PE 1903 
.C8 H8 
Cepy 1 



PE 1909 
,C8 H8 
Cosy 1 



A GLOSSARY 



(toftrolfr (§tamtepw) grcled, 



ILLUSTRATED BY EXAMPLES FROM ANCIENT AUTHORS, 



BY THE LATE 

EEV. RICHARD AVEBSTER HUNTLEY, A.M. 

OF BOXWELL COURT, GLOUCESTERSHIRE ; 

FORMERLY FELLOW OF ALL SOULS' COLLEGE, OXFORD ; 

RECTOR OF BOXWELL AND LEIGHTERTON, 

AND VICAR OF ALBERBURY. 



> O 3 C -t t t | 

"> I f 



S 



LONDON: 
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. 

GLOUCESTER: 
EDWARD NEST, WESTGATE STREET. 



MDCCCLXVIII. 



.CI*** 



This being a posthumous Work of the Author's, great 
difficulty has been found in editing it correctly ; and the 
reader will kindly make allowance for any remaining 
imperfections. 



REMARKS 



ON THE 



COTSWOLD DIALECT. 




DIALECT is one of the best evidences of the 
origin and descent of the people who use it ; 
and, whenever we can trace it to its roots, we 
seem to fix also the country which supplied 
the first inhabitants of the region where it is spoken- 
Bringing their language with them from the cradle 
whence they emigrated, every people brings also its 
customs, laws, and superstitions ; so that a knowledge 
of dialect points also towards a knowledge of feelings, 
seated (in many cases) very deeply, and of prejudices 
which sway the mind with much power ; and thus we 
gain an insight into the genius and probable conduct of 
any particular races among mankind. 

Another reason, which at this present time renders 
dialects more worthy of remembrance, is the universal 
presence of the village schoolmaster. This personage 
usually considers that he places himself on the right point 
of elevation above his pupils, in proportion as he distin- 

B 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

guishes his speech by classical or semi-classical expres- 
sions ; while the pastor of the parish, trained in the 
schools still more deeply, is very commonly unable to 
speak in a language fully " understanded of the people," 
and is a stranger to the vernacular tongue of those over 
whom he is set ; so that he is daily giving an example 
which may bring in a latinized slip-slop. In addition to 
this, our commercial pursuits are continually introducing 
American solecisms and vulgarisms. Each of these sources 
of change threaten deterioration. Many homely but 
powerful and manly words in our mother tongue appear to 
totter on the verge of oblivion. As long, however, as we 
can keep sacred our inestimable translation of the Word 
of God, to which let us add also our Prayer-book, together 
with that most wonderful production of the mind of man, 
the works of Shakespeare, we may hope that we possess 
sheet-anchors, which will keep us from drifting very far 
into insignificance or vulgarity, and may trust that the 
strength of the British tongue may not be lost among the 
, nations. 

It has, moreover, been well observed that a knowledge 
of dialects is very necessary to the formation of an exact 
dictionary of our language. Many words are in common 
use only among our labouring classes, and accounted 
therefore vulgar, which are in fact nothing less than 
ancient terms, usually possessing much roundness, pathos, 
or power ; and, what is more, found in frequent use with 
our best writers of the Elizabethan period. The works 
of Shakespeare abound in examples of the Cotswold 
■dialect, which indeed is to be expected, as his con- 
nexions and early life are to be found in the districts 
where it is .entirely spoken; and if, as has been thought, 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

lie spent some part of his younger days in concealment 
iii the neighbourhood of Dursley, lie could not have been 
better placed to mature, in all its richness, any early 
knowledge which he might have gained of our words and 
expressions.* This, however, is certain, that the terms and 
phrases in common use in the Cotswold dialect are very 
constantly found in his dialogue ; .they add much strength 
and feeling to it ; and his obscurities, hi many cases, have 
been only satisfactorily elucidated by the commentators 
who have been best acquainted with the dialect in question. 

The Cotswold dialect is remarkable for a change of 
letters in many words ; for the addition or omission of 
letters ; for frequent and usually harsh contractions and 
unusual idioms, with a copious use of pure Saxon words 
now obsolete, or nearly so. If these words were merely 
vulgar introductions, like the pert and ever-changing slang 
of the London population, we should look upon them as 
undeserving of notice ; but as they are still almost all to 
be drawn from undoubted and legitimate roots, as they are 
found in use in the works of ancient and eminent authors, 
and as they are in themselves so numerous as to render 
the dialect hard to be understood by those not acquainted 
with them, they become worthy of explanation : and 
then they bring proof of the strength and manliness 
of the ancient English tongue, and thev will generally 
compel us to acknowledge, that while our modern speech 
may possibly have gained in elegance and exactness 
from the Latin or Greek, it has lost, on the other hand, im- 
pressiveness and power. 

We believe that the roots chiefly discoverable in this 
* See Xote at end. 

b2 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

dialect will be the Dutch, Saxon, and Scandinavian ; bear- 
ing evidence of the Belgic, Saxon, and Danish invasions, 
which have visited the Cotswold region. Occasionally, a 
Welsh or Gaelic root shows itself, and is probably a lin- 
gering word of the old aboriginal British inhabitants, who 
were subsequently displaced by German or Northern irrup- 
tions. One or two words seem to be derived from the 
Sanscrit, which may have been obtained from our German 
relations ; one word from the Hebrew may have been left 
among us when the Celtic tribes were driven into Wales. 

To these old words, now nearly lost in modern conver- 
sation, is to be added a corrupted use of the Saxon gram- 
mar ; whence modes of expression are produced which at 
first sight are obscure, as having never obtained admission 
in the colloquy of the better informed, and as being in 
themselves ungrammaticaL 

We presume that the most ancient work now extant 
written in the Cotswold dialect is the " Chronicle of Robert 
of Gloucester," who lived, according to his own statement, 
at the time of the battle of Evesham, ie., August 4, 1265. 
This historian and versifier may be said to use altogether 
the Cotswold tongue, and his language is that which is 
still faithfully spoken by all the unlettered ploughboys in 
the more retired villages of the Gloucestershire hill- 
country. This dialect extends along the Cotswold, or 
oolitic, range, till we have passed through Northampton- 
shire; and it spreads over Wilts, Dorsetshire, northern 
Somersetshire, and probably the western parts of Hamp- 
shire. In Oxfordshire the University has considerably 
weakened the language by an infusion of Latinisms ; and 
in Berkshire it has suffered still more by London slang and 
Cockneyisms. 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

In noticing the change of letters observable in the ver- 
nacular tongue on the Cotswolds, we will begin at the 
beginning. 

A. This vowel, in the first place, frequently receives 
reduplication ; we may instance " A-ater," for " After." The 
next change which this letter admits is into the dipthong 
JE, as in " Mle " for " Ale f in these cases it is common to 
have the letter "Y" placed before the dipthong, as " Ysele ;" 
sometimes so rapidly pronounced as to sound like the word 
" Yell," an outcry. " Laerk" stands for " Lark," the bird; with 
similar instances of alteration, which generally are preser- 
vations of the Saxon pronunciation. Next, we find the letter 
changed into "ai," as in " Make — Maike," " Care — Caire ;" 
and where the " ai" is the legitimate mode of spelling, 
there it obtains a great elongation of sound, as " Fair" be- 
comes "Fai-er," "Lair" (of a beast) "Lai-er"; for this use we 
have found no authority. Next, the letter "a" frequently 
becomes "o," as in " Hand — Hond," " Land — Lond," " Stand 
— Stond," "Man — Mon;" the whole of which are pure Saxon, 
and are found in constant use by Eobert of Gloucester. Fi- 
nally, the dipthong "au" frequently becomes " aa," as in 
" Daughter — Daater," which is unadulterated Danish ; 
"Draught — Draat," with many other instances. This is also 
the case where the letter " a" has properly the sound of this 
dipthong, as in " Call— Caal," "Fall— Vial," " Wall— Waal," 
and suchlike words ; to these we will add " Law," which is 
pronounced " Laa," agreeing with the Saxon " Lah." 

B is, as we might expect, sometimes interchanged with 
P, as in the name of the plant "Privet," often called "Brivet ;" 
it is also sometimes, though not frequently, used for W, 
as " Beth-wind," for - With-wind," " Edbin" for " Edwin ;" 
" Bill" for " Will/' is common everywhere. 



6 INTRODUCTION'. 

C is changed, occasionally, into G, as for u Crab — Grab," 
" Crisp — Grisp," " Christian — Gristin ;" " Guckoo" for 
' ' Cuckoo" is universal,but this, like the Scotch " Gowk," arises, 
possibly, from a misapprehension of the note of the bird. 
In the word " Yonder," C usurps the place of Y, and the 
term becomes "Conder;" this, however, may only be a 
change from G into C, as the Saxon word is " Geonda." 

E is frequently changed into the dipthongiE, as " Beech 
— Bgech," " Sleep— Step," " Feel— Vael/' Saxon « Fcellan," 
with many other instances. It also becomes A short, as 
"Peg— Pag," "Keg— Kag," " Their— Thair." Next, by 
abbreviation, it becomes I, as "Creep — Crip," Saxon, 
" Crypan," " Steep— Stipe/' Suio-Gothic, " Steypa." When it 
is in composition with A, it seems to divide the syllable in 
which it so stands, as " Beat" becomes "Be-at," "Death — 
De-ath," " Earth— Ye-arth," " Tart— Te-art" as applied 
to the smart of a sore place, or the sharp taste of an acid, 
as well as when the substantive, a fruit-pie, is intended. 
"Am" becomes "Ye-am;" but here we may observe, that 
this may be the Saxon " Eagm," as " Ye-arth" may also 
come from the Danish " Jord." 

E, as is usual in all languages, often interchanges with 
V; thus "Fig" becomes "Veg," " Feed— Veed," Dutch 
"Veedan;" "Fill— Yill," Saxon "Villan;" "For— Vor," 
Dutch " Ver." This appears to have been our use from 
the earliest periods. Bobert of Gloucester gives us " Vut" 
for « Foot,". " Vant" for "Font," "Ver" for "For/' "Vail" 
for "Fall/' with innumerable other instances ; all faithfully 
followed on the Cotswold range. 

G interchanges with Y. This is a custom drawn imme- 
diately from the Saxon, in which language these two let- 
ters sometimes appear to be used almost indifferently. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Thus "Angel" is often pronounced " Anyel," " Angelic— 
Anyelic," or even " Anyely," where the Saxon termination 
" lie" or " like" sinks, as in other cases, into the modern "ly." 

H is chiefly remarkable for its wrong position. It is 
struck off, or put in, without any authority at the 
discretion, or rather indiscretion, of the speaker ; only 
custom seems to have arranged unhappily, that it 
should appear where it ought to be absent, and should 
be wanting where it ought to be present. " Why 'op 
ye so, ye 'igh ; ills?" has been heard from "the priest's 
lip keeping knowledge." '"Ope" stands for "Hope," 
<"Unt" for "Hunt/' " Edge" for "Hedge," "Helm" for 
" Elm," " Hasp" or " Haspen," for " Asp" or " Aspen," 
f? Hexcellent" for ' < Excellent," " Hegg" for "Egg," with as 
many other instances as there may be opportunities for 
eiTor. This also seems to have been an ancient practice, 
as Eobert of Gloucester is constantly found labouring 
under this uncertainty ; indeed, it would be difficult to un- 
stand him at all unless this regularity in mistake on his 
part is always borne in mind. As an example, we will give 
his wT>rd " Atom." This is more than a dissyllable, it is 
two words, being " At om," contracted from " At ome," 
and by supplying the H struck off, we have the sense "At 
home." But we must not forget that some of these 
changes are merely the old Saxon preserved in its purity : 
as in the example above, " 'Unt for Hunt," we read " Ge- 
untod of Angel-cynne." See " Saxon Chronicle," Ingram, 
Appendix, p. 381. 

I interchanges with E, as " Drink " becomes " Drenk," 
" Bring — Breng," both being the Saxon pronunciation ; as 
also "Sink— Zenk," " String— Streng/ 5 "Sting— Steng," 
" Sing — Zeng ;" the instances are indeed perpetual, and may 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

be generally held to be derived from the Saxon. " Drive " 
is always " Dreeve." " Thrive," however, never loses the 
I ; but, as nature abhors a vacuum, the word is ordained to 
step into the space which is vacated by the word "Dreeve," 
and it usually becomes "Drive." 

M becomes N" in the word " Empty," which is pronounced 
" Enty," and is the only change of the kind which we have 
noticed. 

commonly usurps the place of A, as we have observed 
under that letter. It is, moreover, often changed into 
" Au," as " Snow " is pronounced " Snau," " Blow — blau," 
" Mow — Mau;" these sounds have their origin in the Saxon 
tongue. Sometimes is made into aa, as in " Croft," which 
is spoken " Craat " very frequently, " Moth — Maat", Saxon 
Matha. Lastly, in some words this vowel changes into A, 
as in rt North," which is frequently pronounced " "Narth." 

P, as might be expected, in some cases becomes B, which 
we have noticed under that letter. 

E is very often misplaced, as " Cruds " for " Curds." 

S in like manner suffers from dislocations, thus 
" Hasp " is " Haps," " Clasp— Claps," " Wasp— Waps," with 
other examples. This letter is also very frequently made 
Z, in which we agree with the Dutch, as in M Sea," " Zee;" 
and this practice may be as old as the Belgic invasion of 
these parts, which is mentioned by Caesar as having taken 
place before his age. 

T and Th are often changed into D when before the 
letter E. Tlius " Through" becomes «Dru," " Three— Dree," 
" Trill," and " Thrill— Drill," " Thrush " and u Throstle," 
"Drush" and "Drostle," " Track" becomes "Drack," 
" Tree— Dree," "Trash— Drash," " Throw— Drow," which also 
may generally be held to be Dutch usage. "Th" is 



IX TROD UCTIOX. 9 

always pronounced as in the word " This/' not as in 
" Thistle," that is, it always has a slight sound of the D 
before it. 

U, sounded hard, takes the place of the double 0, as 
M Brook," which is pronounced " Bruck," Saxon, Broc, 
" Book — Buck," Saxon, Boc, "Look — Luck/' Saxon, Loc, 
with other instances. 

W is often seated so strangely, and sometimes inserted 
so capriciously into the interior of words, that, if it is held 
to be the di-gamma, it might tend to justify Dr. Bentley in 
thrusting it, for the verse sake whenever he wants it, into 
the middle of Homer's words. We will notice it first as im- 
properly commencing words ; thus, " Oats " becomes 
"Woats," by abbreviation "Wuts/' "Oaks— Woaks — 
Wuks," " Home — Whome — Whiun ; in the interior of 
words we have " Go — Gwoa," " Going — Gwain," " Stone 
Stwon," " Bone— Bwone," '•' Kindle— Kwindle," " Such 
— Zwitch," with many other instances. If, however, this 
letter usurps positions to which it is not entitled, so it loses 
also in some cases its natural rights, as "Wool — Woollen" 
is often made " Ool— Oollen," " Worsted— Oosted," " Wolf— 
Oolf," " Wood — Ood," and thence sometimes " Hood," with 
such like instances of deposition. This elision seems to 
have a Danish character. Caprice alone appears to have 
dictated the erroneous insertions of the letter. 

Y claims, and obtains also, a very leading position in the 
same arbitrary manner. Thus "Ale" is " Ye-ale," " Health — 
Y-ealth," " Earth— Y-earth," "Am— Ye-am," "Head— 
Yead." It suffers, however, total defeat in " Yes," which is 
always either " Iss " or "Eece," according to the leisure 
of the speaker. 

Z, as we have said, is in constant use for S. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

We will now notice some of the contractions in speech 
which are in constant rise on the Cotswolds. " At," " At- 
unt," represent, " Thou art," and "Thou art not/' Fielding, as 
he places Squire Western's residence in the north of Somer- 
setshire, very properly bestows on him a considerable dash 
of the dialect in question, " I' ool ha' zatisvaction o' thee," 
answered the squire, " soa doff thy cloathes, at-unt half a 
man," &c. Hist, of a Foundling, book VI., ch. 9. 

In the same manner "Cat?" and " Cast?" stand for "Canst 
thou ?" and "Cass-nt/' for " Canst thou not?" 

" D'wye/' imploringly, represents, "Do ye;" as "D'wunty," 
" Do ye not." 

" Thee bist," is, "Thou beest," "You are." 

"Gee-wult?" " Go, will you?" is a term addressed to 
horses, when they are to move from the driver ; as 
" K'-mae-thee," " Come hither," is the term to make them 
draw nearer. 

" Oos-nt,-ootst ?" is, " You would not, would you ?" 

" St-dzign ?" is the contraction of " Do you design ?" — i.e., 
" intend." " St-gwain ?" " Are you going ?" " St-hire ?" is 
" Do you hear ?" " St-knaw ?" " Do you know ?" In these 
and similar instances the " St" is the termination of 
"Dost" or "Beest," as the case may be, and is barely 
sounded. 

" Hae " is, " Have," " Shat " and " Shat-unt," are, " You 
shall," and "You shall not." Squire Western promises 
Blifil, " I tell thee, shat ha' her to-morrow morning." Hist. 
of a Foundling, book VII., ch. 6. 

"Te-unt" means, "It is not." "Why-s-'nt?" is contracted 
from " Why-oos-nt ?" "Why will you not?" as "Coos-nt" 
is, " Could you not ?" 

" 'S-like I shall " is, " It is likely I shall." " Said'st thine?" 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

" Didst thou say it was thine ?" " Xar-on " is, " Never a 

one " — none. " St-Thenk V is, u Do you think ?" " E'en as 
'twur " is, "Even as it were." " Med" is. " He might " — 
" Mod, nied'nt ur ? " represents, " He might, might he 
not?" 

"Mizzomar" for ''Midsummer" we should not have 
introduced, had it not been that we find this contraction in 
Bobert of Gloucester, which seems to give a great anti- 
quity to these abbreviations. 

Among variations from Mr. Lindley Murray's English 
Grammar, we will first remark that the use of the pronoun 
" He " is nearly universal. The feminine " She " is rarely 
admitted, and the neuter "It" is equally excluded. 
" She," when brought into use, is mostly compelled to 
submit to an appearance in the accusative case, " Her" — 
as, by way of example, " Her y-'ent sa' desperd bad a' 
'ooman as I've a knawed," would be very good English on 
the Cotswold range. It is, however, very questionable, 
when the word " He " is used for " She," whether we have 
anything more than the Saxon " Heo," which is our " She." 
The dominion, however, of " He " over " It " is very un- 
doubted, as anything inanimate in itself is always " He" — 
for instance, a Spade, a Shoe, a Pond, a Gate, a Eoad, or 
whatever else presents itself. " He," coming thus into 
constant use, suffers from the familiarity when standing 
before the word ;1 will" as a sign of the future tense ; it then 
sinks into the vowel " U " pronounced hard ; " u'll die," 
"u'll vight," " u'll stond," " u'll ran," are, in such a case, the 
usual modes of pronouncing "He will." 

" As," in this dialect, obtains very commonly the powers 
of "which;" thus, "The 'ooman as I married," "The beast as I 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

zauld," " The ru-oad as I gade," would be proper phrases in 
village colloquy in this district. 

" Which," however, takes the place of " When," or 
" While " in many cases. As " I bid the wench shou'd 
hauld awpen the geat, which she slammed un to, and laughed 
in muv veace ;" " He took his woath as I layed the dtrap, 
which I did noa sich a theng." 

The plural in " es," so constantly sounded in Chaucer, 
is still preserved in many words in this part of the Cots- 
wold range. Thus " Ghosts " and " Posts " are constantly 
"Ghostes" and "Postes;" "Beasts" are " Beastes," and 
sometimes " Beastesses ;" "Guests" and "Feasts" be- 
comes " Guestes," and " Feastes :" Addison's joke upon 
the songs in the opera, 

" When the breezes 
Fan the treeses," &c, 

would not be discovered to be a satire in the villages under 
consideration. There can be no doubt but this is the ad- 
herence to ancient usage ; and Kemble was certainly right 
in considering that Shakespeare intended " Aches " to be 
pronounced "Aitches," as a dissyllable, (to which usage that 
great actor steadily adhered), because the word was so 
sounded down to the days of King Charles II. See Hudi- 
bras, passim. 

In forming past tenses of verbs we often find words 
in use, which, if they ever obtained elsewhere, are now 
generally obsolete. It is impossible to give all the in- 
stances, but we will enumerate a few specimens. " Catched" 
is used instead of "Caught." "Kaught" is made the per- 
fect tense of " Eeach " — this word will appear in the i 
Glossary, together with Shakespeare's use of it. That 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

illimitable poet supports his native dialect in the use of 
the word " Holp," as the past tense of " Help." In " Much 
Ado about Nothing/' act iii., sc. 2., Don John says, " I 
think he holds you well, and, in dearness of heart, hath 
holp to effect your marriage." This is an ancient form 
of the word " Help," and kept alive by our Bible ; we 
find it in Isaiah, xxxi., 3., " He that is holpen shall fall 
down;" in Daniel, xi., 34., " They shall be holpen with a 
little help ;" in St. Luke, i. 54., " He hath holpen his servant 
Israel," and in other passages ; and let us remember that 
these archaisms now, accidentally but very happily, increase 
our reverence for the sacred text. 

" rot," or " Vot," are used as the past tense of " Fetch ;" 
u Give-Gave," makes its past tense in this district " Gived," 
but by abbreviation "Gled;" by a farther contraction spoken 
" Gid," though, in some cases, the labours of the school- 
master and the village Incumbent have advanced the 
more promising pupil as far as "Guv." Instances of 
irregularity in the formation of the perfect tense are, as 
we have said, perpetual. 

The double negative is very usual, and in this custom 
Shakespeare frequently upholds his native district. We 
will adduce as instances, Henry V., act ii., sc. 4. 

"Dauphin. — Though war — nor no known quarrel were 
in question." 

Next, the Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii., sc. 4. 

"Valentine. — Nor to his service no such joy on earth." 

Measure for Measure, act ii., sc. 1. 

" Escalus. — No sir — nor I mean it not." 

Merchant of Venice, act iv., sc. 1. 

" Shylock. — So I can give no reason — nor I will not." 

The instances of this irregularity are so frequent with 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

this poet, that the reader may readily discover more ex- 
amples. 

The double superlative also obtains a place in our dialect. 
" Most worst/' or even " Most worstest," would excite no 
remark as an unnecessary pleonasm. Shakespeare slips 
also into this practice: in Henry IV., Part II., act iii., sc. 1, 
we find — 

" King. — And in the calmest and most stillest night." 

This redundancy gains countenance from the words 
" Most Highest," as applied to the Creator in the Prayer- 
book version of the Psalms. 

The double comparative is also very common. Not only 
"more better," but "more betterer," is usual. Shakespeare 
has this phrase also in The Tempest, act i., sc. 2 : Prospero 
says — 

" Nor that I am more better 
Than Prospero." 

" More braver " also is used in The Tempest, act i., sc, 2. 

"We constantly use the term " Worser ;" and here again 
we gain countenance from the same poet. In Hamlet, 
act iii., sc. 4, this passage occurs — 

" Queen. — Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. 

"Hamlet. — Oh, throw away the worser part of it, 
And live the purer with the other half." 

Dryclen also supports us in this usage ; in the Astraea 
Eedux we read at the 3rd line — 

" And worser far 
Than arms, a sullen interval of war." 

In addition to the plurals in En still retained in the 
English language, which are Oxen, Brethren, Children, 
and Chicken, we have in familiar use in our district the 



IN TROD UOTION. 1 5 

words " Housen " for Houses, " Peasen " for Peas, and 
" Wenchen " for Wenches, " Elmen " for Elm Trees, and 
" Plazen " for Places. To these instances, we presume, we 
ought to add " Thenimen" for Those, "Tkairn " for Theirs, 
« Ourn " for Ours, " Yourn " for Yours, " Thism " for These,' 
together with a His'n," "Shiz'n," " Weez'n," as masculine, 
feminine, and plural of "His," "Hers/' and " Ours 1 ;" with 
which irregularity we will close our notice of our gram- 
matical varieties. 

Some of the phrases in frequent use in dialogue on the 
Cotswolds, which will appear unusual to a stranger, are as 
follows : — 

"A copy of your countenance," means, "you are deceiv- 
ing," " It is not yourseE" Fielding, in his Life of Jona- 
than Wild, at the end of chap. 14 of Book hi, uses this 
expression. " But this he afterwards confessed at Tyburn 
was only c a copy of his countenance.' " 

"All manner/' is a phrase used in an evil sense to de- 
scribe all manner of annoyance ; and is chiefly introduced 
to describe the carriage of any person who intrudes himself 
and acts as rudely as he pleases ; thus, " He came and did 
all manner," would mean, "all manner of insolence or 
injury." Though this idiomatic expression is occasionally 
used by persons of better condition, we still do not remem- 
ber to have seen it in use in any waitings of a light or 
comic nature. 

"All's one for that," means, "notwithstanding your ob- 
jection, the case remains the same." 

"Drap it, drap it !" that is, "Drop it." This is an angry 
request that any course of annoying remarks or practices 
may cease ; and it may be safely concluded, when a genuine 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

son of the Gotswolds uses this phrase, that his patience is 
just worn out. 

« Gallows bad/' " Gallows drunk/' * a Gallows cheat "— 
always pronounced "Gallus" — means, "bad enough for the 
gallows." It is possible that this may be a term of great 
antiquity, and may draw its frequent use from the gallows- 
tree of the feudal lord. 

" Hand over head " is a metaphor taken from the con- 
duct of a mob in a battle or in aggressive confusion, and is 
used to express anything done in haste, ill-order, and self- 
impeding perturbation. This phrase occurs in Farquhar's 
comedy, where Pindress, the maid-servant, urging the 
Page to marry her on the spot, exclaims, " ISTo considera- 
tion ! This business must be done hand over head." 
Whereas, to do anything " with a high hand " always im- 
plies that it was some attempt triumphantly carried 
through. 

" I cannot away with," is an ancient phrase, constantly 
found in the Bible, and still therefore in frequent use in 
this simple district, meaning, "I cannot cast away the 
recollection of it," w I cannot endure it." It is used when 
speaking of some misfortune or bad conduct. See Isaiah, 
L, 13. 

" I'll tell you what," is as much as to say, " I will give 
you an unanswerable argument ;" sometimes it means, " I 
will give you my fixed resolution." Shakespeare per- 
petually uses this phrase ; as an instance we may turn to 
Henry IV., Part L, act iii, sc. 1. 

" Hotspur. — I'll tell you what, — 

He held me, but last night, at least nine hours." 

" It'll come right aater a bit," means, " the difficulty in 
any business is passing away." 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

" I can't be off it," means, u an irresistible impulse com- 
pels me to it," "I must do it." 

" Let alone," is a statement that some necessary charac- 
teristic in any circumstance need not be taken into pre- 
sent calculation, as " A broken leg is zitch a hindrance, 
let alone the anguish of un !" 

" May be" is continually used for " Perhaps " — it is the 
French "Peut-etre." 

" Month's mind," means, a mind unsettled on any parti- 
cular plan, — a weak resolution. It is a term derived from 
a custom observed in the obsequies of remarkable per- 
sons previous to the Eeformation. At the end of the month 
after the funeral there was a minor ceremony performed 
in recollection of the deceased, and which was intended 
to keep him in mind. A less procession, a less dole, and 
a less religious service took place ; and, as these observ- 
ances were all weaker in effect, and were necessarily of 
a very evanescent character, so any poor and wavering 
feeling came to be compared to " the month's mind " after 
a stately funeral. Thomas "Wynclesor, Esq., in his will 
dated August 13, 1479, gives particular directions as to his 
funeral, which were designed with a view to very consi- 
derable state and dignity, and at the end of these is the 
following : " Item — I will that there be one hundred 
children, each within the age of sixteen years, at my 
month's mind, to say our Lady's Psalter for my soul in the 
church of Stanwell, each of them having iiiid. for his 
labour, and that before my month's mind the candles burnt 
before the rood in the said church be renewed and made at 
my cost ; Item — I will that at my month's mind my exe- 
cutors provide twenty priests, besides the clerks that come 
to sing Placebo, Dirige, &c, &c." Testamenta Yetusta, 

c 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

p. 393, in which work this practice is often alluded to. In 
Machyn's Diary this custom is also frequently noted ; we 
will extract from it the notice of the deaths and month's 
mind of the two Dukes of Suffolk, who died while 
children, of the sweating-sickness. " The xxii day of 
September (1551) was the Monyth's Mind of the ii Dukkes 
of Suffoke in Chambryge-shyre, with ii Standards, ii baners- 
grett of Amies and large, and baners rolls of Dyver Armes, 
with ii Elmets, ii (swords), ii Targetts crowned, ii Cotes of 
Armes, ii Crests, and ten dozen of Scochyons crowned ; and 
yt was grett pete of their dethe, and yt had plesyd God of 
so nobull a stok they wher, for ther ys no more of them 
left/' 

" Next of kin " does not mean relationship in blood, but 
any similarity. <; Fainting " would be " next of kin to death,' 1 
" A Glove — next of kin to the Hand;" " Fluid white- wash" 
would be " next of kin to Milk ;" it means also any near 
relationship in place or authority ; thus, a " Justice of the 
Peace " would be " next of kin to a Judge," an " Arch- 
deacon " to " the Bishop," a " Lord-Lieutenant " to " the 
Monarch." 

" Overseen" and " overlooked" means "bewitched" — 
led astray by evil influence, as having suffered under the 
" Evil Eye" of a witch or wizard. Thus, " I was quite 
overseen in that matter," means, " I had lost my reason by 
some evil agency." 

" Play the bear," or " play the very Buggan with you," 
is to spoil,, to harass ; " Buggan " meaning Satan or any 
evil spirit — " Old Bogey." 

" Poke the Fire," is always used instead of " Stir the Fire," 
and rightly, as having reference to the poker. 

" Quite natural," means anything done easily, as a matter 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

of course, and is spoken of proceedings winch are quite 
artificial — thus a man would be said to fly up in a balloon 
w quite natural." 

'•'She is so," means a female expects to become a mother : 
probably this delicate phrase was originally accompanied 
with a position of the hands and arms in front of the per- 
son speaking, indicative of a promising amplitude. 

"To and again/' to move backwards and forwards, to go 
to a certain point and to return again, as on a terrace-walk 
in a garden. " To and fro " being, in fact, the same idea, 

" You are such another," is a phrase used in derogation. 
" You are as bad as the preceecling." We find this phrase 
in Much Ado about Nothing, act. iii. sc. -4. — "Margaret — 
Yet Benedict was such another, and now he is become a 
man." 

" YouTL meet with it," is a threat that punishment will 
unavoidably follow the course which is being pursued by 
the person addressed ; the pronoun " it" being the abbrevi- 
ation for chastisement. 

" You might as well have killed yourself," is used to 
describe an accident which might have produced death, 
meaning " You have done enough to have killed yourself." 

"You are another guess sort of a man," means "You 
differ from the example before us." Probably the word 
" Guess" in this phrase was originally ' ; Guise." 

"Whatever" frequently ends a sentence prematurely, 
the words " may happen," or " by any means," being struck 
off. It is mostly used negatively, as " I would not do it, 
— whatever." "He would not help himself, — whatever." 
This phrase, in spite of the ludicrous effect which attends 
it, is sometimes heard in the better walks of life in the 
Cotswolds. 

C 9 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

We hardly know whether we ought to notice slip-slop, 
or the mistaken use of words introduced by the school- 
master ; w^e will, however, remark that the phrase " It 
don't argufy," " edify," or " magnify," stands, whichever 
verb is selected, for " it does not signify." And when the 
honest rustic intends to be very emphatical and dignified 
at the same time he will frequently use all three errors ; 
and having thus enriched his vocabulary with so many 
synonyms for " signify," he casts away the right word as 
being utterly useless. 

The habit, however, of substituting the word "Aunt" for 
" Grandmother," which is very common in this district, de- 
serves consideration, because we find this use of the word 
twice in Shakespeare. In Othello, act i. sc. 1, Iago alarms 
Brabantio with the intelligence of the elopement of his 
daughter with the Moor, whom he styles a " Barbary 
horse," and adds — "You'll have your nephews neigh to 
you," meaning grandsons ; so again in Eichard III., act iv. 
sc. 1, we have the stage direction — "Enter Queen, Duchess 
of York, and Marquis of Dorset, at one door ; Anne Duchess 
of Gloucester, leading Lady Margaret Plantagenet, Clarences 
youngest daughter, at the other." The Duchess of York 
addresses Lady Margaret with the words — " Who meets 
us here? My Niece Plantagenet," whereas she is her 
granddaughter. The grandmothers sometimes seem to take 
offence if they are denominated by any more ancient ap- 
pellation than " Aunt" among their grandchildren. 

The tone in which the Cotswold dialect is spoken is 
usually harsh, and the utterance is rapid, so that the con- 
versations between the natives, marked by continual con- 
tractions, hasty delivery, and unusual words, is hardly 
understood by a stranger. 



INTBOD UC TION. 21 

In presenting the reader with the Glossary which fol- 
lows, we endeavour to give the derivation of each word 
from its original root, whenever we think we can suggest it 
with probability. In addition to this, where we can find 
the use of any word now nearly or quite lost, we have 
offered the quotation. These quotations we have, in most 
cases, verified ; where we have not done this, we have 
adopted them chiefly on the authority of the Encyclo- 
jjedia Londinensis. 

These extracts from ancient writers, all, more or less, 
of authority, will show that the old Gloucestershire words 
are not mere vulgarisms, but though now seldom or never 
used, are as well, if not better founded than those in 
common parlance ; and it will be seen, in not a few in- 
stances, that the English language has lost rather than 
gained by adopting Latinisms in their stead. 

We wish farther to remark that some of the words 
found in the following Glossary are not, strictly speaking, 
dialectical, but only still in continual use hi this district, 
while they are dying rapidly hi other places. As an in- 
stance, the word " Wag" appears in the Glossary. Now 
this word, in spite of the Scriptural use of it, as in the 
phrase ''Wagging their heads," and in other passages, is 
almost limited to the motion of a dog's tail, while on the 
Cotswolds its general application is still preserved. A 
person who was standing in obstruction of any necessary 
work, would be addressed by the phrase " Why-'s 'nt Wag?" 
"why do you not move?" Such words are inserted to 
prolong the memory of terms, in themselves original and 
powerful, but which appear to be endangered by the use 
of words, more new but weaker, and drawn from a less 
efficient vocabulary. 



NOTE. 

Nothing will need an apology which may tend to throw a light on 
any part of the life of Shakespeare. We will therefore without 
further preface, offer the following matter, kindly supplied to us by 
a friend residing at Parsley. We may take it for granted that the 
tradition which states how the young poet fled before the enraged 
face of Sir Thomas Lucy, on account of some illegal intrusion in 
the knight's park in "Warwickshire, is based on some fact. It is 
surmised that he sought shelter in Dursley, a small town seated on 
the edge of a wild woodland tract. Some passages in his writings 
show an intimate acquaintance with Dursley, and the names of its inha- 
bitants. In the Second Part of Henry IT., act v. sc. 1, u Gloucester- 
shire," Davy says to Justice Shallow — "I beseech you, Sir, to counte- 
nance William Visor of Woncot, against Clement Perkes of the Hill." 
This Woncot, as Mr. Stevens, the commentator, supposes, in a note to 
another passage in the same play (act v., sc. 3) is Wooclmancot, still 
p:onounced by the common people "Wonicot," a township in the 
parish of Dursley. It is also to be observed that in Shakespeare's 
time a family named Visor, the ancestors of the present family of 
Vizard, of Dursley, resided and held property in Woodmancot. This 
township lies at the foot of Stinchcombe Hill, still emphatically called 
" The Hill " in that neighbourhood on account of the magnificent view 
which it commands. On this hill is the site of a house wherein a 
family named "Purchase,"' or " Perkis," once lived, which seems to be 
identical with '• Clement Perkes of the Hill." In addition to these 
coincidences, we must mention the fact that a family named Shake- 
speare formerly resided in Dursley, as appears by an ancient rate- 
book, which family still exist, as small freeholders, in the adjoining 
parish of Bagpath, and claim kindred with the poet. A physician, 
Dr. Barnett, lately residing in London, and who died at an advanced 
age, was in youth apprenticed at Dursley, and had a vivid remem- 
brance of the tradition that Shakespeare once dwelt there ; he affirmed, 
that losing his way in a ramble in the extensive woods which adjoin 
the town, he asked a person whom he met where he had been, and was 
told that the name of the spot which particularly attracted his atten- 
tion was called "Shakespeare's walk." In the play "King Richard II. ? 
act ii. sc. 3," a description of Berkeley Castle is given, which is so 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

exact that it is hardly possible to read it without considering it as if 
seen from Stinchcombe Hill. The scene is u A Wild Prospect in 
Gloucestershire." Bolingbroke and Northumberland enter \ Bolingbrohe. 

opens the dialogue : — 

•''How far is it. my lord, to Berkeley, now ? 
North. — I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire ; 

These high wild hills and rough uneven ways 
Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome." 
" But. I bethink me. what a weary way 
From Bavenspurg to Cotswoli will be found 
In Boss and WiUoughby wanting your company.'' &c. 
Enter to them Harry Percy, whom Northumberland addresses : — 
" How far is it to Berkeley ? And what stir 
Keeps good old York there, with his men of war? 
Hotspur. — There stands the castle by yon tuft of trees."' 
Now this is the exact picture of the castle as seen from " The Hill :" 
the castle having been, from time immemorial, shut in on one side, as 
viewed therefrom, by an ancient cluster of thick lofty trees. Lastly, we 
would add that down to the reign of Queen Anne the Cotswold range 
was an open tract of turf and sheep-walk, which extended up into War- 
wickshire, and was famous as a sporting-ground, particularly for coursing! 
the hare with greyhounds, throughout the whole extent. It was con- 
sequently well-known by the gentry of both counties ; and this is evi- 
denced by their pedigrees, wherein intermarriages between the houses 
of each county are frequently found. The portion of Shakespeare's life 
which has always been involved in obscurity is the interval between his 
removal from Warwickshire and his arrival in London ; and this period. 
we think, was probably spent in a retreat among his kindred at Dursley, 
in Gloucestershire. 



GLOSSARY. 



A-ATEE. After, in point of time ; also, according to, in 

point of manner: " Aater this fashion." 
ABIDE. To endure, to suffer : Abidian, Saxon. 

"The nations shall not be able to abide his indignation." — Jer. x., 10. 
* ' The day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide 
it." — Joel ii., 11. 
Used in the same sense by Robert of Gloucester and Peter Langtoft. 

ADEY. Thirsty : Adrigan, Saxon. 

AFEAEED. Frightened : Afaeran, Saxon, 

" Whether he ben a lewde* or lered, 
He n'ot how sone that he may ben affered." 

— Chaucer, Doctor's Tale, 1. 1221. 
See also Spenser's Fairy Queen. 

AFOEE, ATVOEE. Before : Atforan, Saxon. 

AGEK Opposite to, over against. This word is also used 
to designate any given time for the occurrence of an 
event, or the performance of a promise : Agen, contra, 
Saxon. 
" I'll be ready agen Zhip-Zhearin," or " Luk for't agen Mi-elmas." 
" Even agen France stonds the contre of Chichestre, 
Norwiche agen Denemarke," &c, &c. 
— Robert of Gloucester. Hearne's Edition, 1714, Vol. I., p. 6. 

ANEAL. To mollify, to shape by softening. 

" Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand 
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched; 
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, 
Unhouseled, disappointed, unanealed." 

— Shakespeare's Hamlet, act i. sc. 4. 



26 GLOSSARY. 

See also the receipt for "Anealing your Glass" when " you would 
paint there." — Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, Vol. II., lib. I., p. 96. 

ANEAWST, ANNEAEST, ANIGSHT. Near ; also, me- 
taphorically, resembling : Near, Saxon. 

" Host. — Will you go an-heirs ? 
Shallow. — Have with you, mine host." 

— Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. i. 

ANTJNST. Over against, opposite to : Nean, Saxon. 

AETISHEEW. The shrew-mouse, an animal used in 
magical charms : " Shrew/' and " arte " to compel, Sir 
Walter Scott writes, Scottice, " Airt." 

" A tiraunt would have artid him by paynes." — Bootius, MS. Soc. An- 
tiq. 134, f. 296. 

ATHEET. Athwart, across : Thwur, Saxon. 

il All athwart there came 
A post from Wales, laden with heavy news." 

— Shakespeare, King Hen. IV. 

ATTEEMATH. Grass after mowing : " After" and " Math," 
from Mathan, Saxon, to mow. 

AWAY WITH. To bear with, to suffer, to endure. 

" Shallow. — She never could away with me 
Falstaff. — Never — never ; she would always say, she could not abide 
Master Shallow." — Shakespeare, Henry IV., Part IL. act iii. sc. 2. 

" The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
with." — Isaiah i. 13. 

" Moria. — Of all the nymphs i' the court, I cannot away with her ; — 
'tis the coarsest thing !" — Ben Jonson, Cynth. Revels, act iv. sc. 5. 

AXE. To ask : Axian, Saxon. 

" Axe* not why ; — for though thou ax 4 me, 
I w T oll not tellen Grodde's privetee." — Chaucer's Miller's Tale, 1. 3557. 
" What is this to mene, man, maiste thee axe." — Deposition of Ric. ii. 

AXEK Ashes ; also in the sense, cineres : Axan, Saxon. 

" Yn'ot whareof men beth so prute, 
Qf erthe and axen, felle and bone, — 
Be the soule's enis ute, 
A viler carsang n'is there none." — Song temp. Edw. I. 



GLOSSARY. 27 



B. 
BACK-SIDE. The backfront of a house. 

" He led the flock to the backside of the desert. "—Exodus iii. 1. 
BAD. To beat husks, or skins of walnuts, or other fruits : 
Battre, French. 

BAG. The uclcler of a cow ; also a sack. 

BALD-BIB. The piece otherwise called the " spare-rib," 
because moderately furnished with meat. 

BANDOPiE. Violoncello or bassoon : Pandura, a similar 
Italian instrument. 

BANGE. A gamekeeper s word, to express the basking 
and dusting themselves by feathered game. 

Bang-a-bonk — to lie lazily on a bank. — Halli well's Dictionary. 

BAN-NUT. The walnut : Baund, swelling, Danish ; Thnut, 
Saxon. 

BABKEN, BAKTON. The homestead : Bairton, Goth, to 
guard. 

" I were never af eared but once, and that ware of grandfar's ghost, — 
for he always hated I, — and a used to walk, poor zoul, in our barken." — 
Mrs. Centlivre, Chapter of Accidents, act ii. sc. 1. 

BAEM. Yeast : Beorm, Saxon. 

"And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm." — Shakespeare, 
Midsum. Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1. 

BAKKOW-PIG The hog, a gelt Pig : Barren? 

BASS OE BAST. Matting used in gardens. 

BASTE. To beat : Bastre, old French. 

BAT-FOWLING or BAT-BIKDING Taking birds by 
night in hand-nets. 

" Sebastian. — We would so, — and then go bat-fowling." — Shakespeare, 
Tempest, act ii. sc. 1. 

BAULK. A bank or ridge : Bale, Saxon. 



28 GLOSSARY. 

" And as the plowman, when the land he tills, 
Throws up the fruitful earth in rigged hills, 
Between whose chevron form he leaves a balke, 
So 'twixt these hills hath nature framed this walke,' 

— Browne, Brit. Pastorals, i. 4. 

BEASTS. Horned cattle. 
BEHOLDEN. Indebted to. 
BELLY. A verb. To swell out. 
BELLUCK. Bellow : Bellan, Saxon. 

"As loud as belleth wincle in hell."— Chaucer, House of Fame, iii. 
713. 

BENNET, BENT. Dry, standing grass : Biendge, Teuton. 

" The dryvers thorowe the woodes went 
For to rees the deer, — 
Bowmen bickered upon the bent 
With their browde arrowes clear. " — Chevy Chase. 

BESOM. A word of reproach, applied solely to the fair 
sex ; as, " Thee auld besom :" Perhaps derived from the 
besom on which a witch rides ; but very likely the same 
word with "bison," which, in the northern dialects, 
means a shame or disgrace ; a woman doing penance 
was called a " holy bison." See Brockett's Glossary. 

BETEEM. To indulge with : Tceman, Saxon. 

" So would I, said the Enchanter, glad and fain 

Beteem to you his sword." — Spenser. 
" Belike for want of rain, which I could well 
Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes." 

— Shakespeare, Midsum. Night's Dream, act i. sc. 1. 
" That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 
Visit her face too roughly." — Shakespeare, Hamlet, act i. sc. 2. 

BIDE. To stay, to dwell : Bidon, Saxon. 

" Pisano. — If not at court, 

Then not in Britain must you bide." 

— Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act iii. sc. 2. 
" All knees to Thee shall bow of them that bide 
In heaven, or earth, or under earth in hell." — Milton. 

BIN. Because : contracted from " It being." 

" Leon. — Being that I flow in grief, 

The smallest twine may lead me." 
— Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act iv. sc. i. 



GLOSSARY. 29 

M La-poope. — And being you have declined his means, yon have in- 
creased his malice." — Beaumont and Fletcher, Honest Man's Fortune, 
act ii. 

BITTLE. Beetle, a heavy mallet used to ram down pave- 
ments, &c. : Bitl, Saxon, 

" Fatstaff. — li I do. fillip me vrith a three-man beetle." — Shakespeare, 
Henry IV., Part II., act i. sc. 2. 

BLATHEE. To talk indistinctly, so fast as to form blad- 
ders at the mouth. 

BLIND-TTOBM. A small snake, the slow-worm. 

" Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting." — Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 
iv. sc. 1. 

BLOWTHE. Blossom in orchards, bean fields; cinquefoin, 
&c. : Blawd, Welsh. 

" Ambition and covetousness being but green and newly grown up, 
the seeds and effects were as yet but potential, and in the blowth and 
bud." — Sir Walter Raleigh. 

BODY, An individual : often spoken of oneself, " A body 
can," or " A body can't."' 

" Good may be drawn out of evil, and a body's life may be saved 
without any obligation to the preserver." — Sir Roger L'Estrange.j 

BOOT. Help, defence : Bot, Saxon. 

"Then list to me, St. Andrew be my boot. — Pinner of Wakefield, iii. 
19. See also Old Ballads, and Shakespeare, passim. 

BOTTOM. A valley. 

" Dunster Toun stondith in a bottom " — Leland's Itiuerary. 
" Hot. — It shall not wind with such a deep indent, 
To rob me of so rich a bottom here." 

— Shakespeare. Henry IV., Part I., act iii. sc. 1. 
" Pursued down into a little meadow which lay in a bottom." — 
Autobiography of King James II., Vol. I., p. 213. 

K On both the shores of that beautiful bottom/' — Addison. Eemarks 
on Italy ; 5th Ed., p. 152. 

BBAKE. A small coppice : Brwg, Welsh. 

" Escalus. — Some run through brakes of vice." 

— Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act ii. sc. 1. 
u 'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake 
That virtue must go through." 

— Id., Henry VIII., act i. sc. 2. 



30 GLOSSARY. 

BEASH. Light, stony soil : Trash ? 
BEAVE. Healthy, strong in appearance. 

* * A brave vessel, 

Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her, 
Dashed all to pieces." — Shakespeare, Tempest, act i. sc. 2. 

BEAY. Hay spread abroad to dry in long parallels : 
Breed, Saxon. 

BREEDS. The brim of a hat : Breed. Sax, as laid out flat, 

BEIM, BEEM. Spoken of a sow, as also of a harlot : 
Bremen, Ardere desiderio, Teut. 

Peter Langtoft uses this word in the sense " furious." 

BEIT. Spoken of the shedding of over-ripe corn from 
the ear. Chaucer's word " bretful " is probably " full 
to bretting." It seems the root of " brittle." 

' ' His wallet lay before him in his lappe 

Bret-ful of pardon, come from Rome al hote." 

— Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, 1. 689. 
" A mantelet upon his shoulders hanging 
Bret-ful of rubies red, as fire sparkling." 

—Id., The Knighte's Tales, 1. 2166. 
" They blew a mort upon the bent, 
They 'sembled on Sydis sheer, 
To the quarry the Percy went, 

To see the brittling of the deer." — Chevy Chase. 
" With a face so fat 
As a full bladere 
Blowen bret-ful of breth." 

— Creed of Piers Plowman, 1. 443. 

BEIZZ, BEEEZE. The gad-fly : Briosa, Saxon. 

" The herd hath more annoyance from the breeze, 
Than from the tyger." 

— Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3. 

BEOOK. To endure, to bend to opposition or evil : Brucan, 
Saxon. 

' ' Heaven, the seat of bliss, 

Brooks not the works of violence or war." — Milton. 

BEOW. The abrupt ridge of a hill : Broew, Saxon. 

" And to the brow of heaven 



Pursuing, drave them out from God and bliss."— Milton. 



GLOSSARY. 31 

u And after he had upon the brow of the hill raised breastworks of 
faggots."— Lord Clarendon, describing the battle of Lansdown. 

BBOW. Adjective. Brittle, liable to snap off suddenly : 
Brau, Welsh. 

BUCKING. The foul linen of a household collected for 

washing : Buc, Saxon ; Lagena ? 

" Throw foul linen upon him, as if it were going to bucking."- Shakes- 
peare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. sc. 3. 

BUDGE. To move a very short distance : Bugan, Saxon ; 
Buj, Sanscrit. 

BUFF. To stammer : derived from the sound. 

BULL-STAG. A bull castrated when old. 

BUBNE, BUBDEN. Spoken of as much hay or straw 
as a man can carry : Bwrn, Welsh, a truss. 

BURR. Pancreas of a calf, the sweet-bread : Bourre, 
French. 

BUPiBOW. Any shelter, especially from weather : Burh, 

Saxon. 

BUTTY. A comrade in labour : Bot, Saxon. 

C. 

CADDLE. To busy with trifles ; to confuse ; to vex : 
Caddler is, we believe, Old French, with the same sense. 

CADDLEMENT. A trifling occupation ; confusion ; vex- 
ation. 

GANDER Yonder : Geonda, Saxon. 

CANDEB-LUCKS. Look yonder. 

CANDLE-MASS BELLS. The snowdrop. 

CANDLE-TINNING. Candle-lighting ; evening: Tinan, 
Saxon, and candle. 

" Love is to myne harte gone, with one spere so kene, 
Night and day my blood it drynks, mine herte doth me tene." 

—MS. HarL Miscell. 



32 GLOSSARY. 

" Tlie priests with holy hands were seen to tine 

The cloven wood, and pour the ruddy wine." — Dryden. 
" Spiteful Atin, in their stubborn mind, 
Coals of contention and hot vengeance tined." 

— Spenser's Fairy Queen. 
" Kindle the Christmas brand, and then 
To sunset let it burne ; 
Which quencht, then lay it up agen 
Till Christmas next returne." 
"Part must be kept wherewith to teend 
The Christmas log next yeare ; 
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend 
Can do no mischief there." — Herrick. 

CANT. To toss lightly, to cast anything a small distance. 

CAEK. Care : Care, Welsh. 

CESS. A word used in calling dogs to their food. Pro- 
bably in monastic halls the portions assigned to the 
brotherhood were originally called cessions, and the 
word was jocosely transferred afterwards to the knight's 
kennel : Cessio, Latin. 

" The poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess." 
Here the word means " out of all measure." — Shakespeare, Hen. IV., 
Part I., act ii. sc. 1. 

CHAM. To chew : Cham, Sanscrit (J) to eat. 

CHAE, or CHIR A job ; hence charwoman : either 
Jour, French, as hired by the day, or Cyrre, Saxon, 
labour. 

" And when thou'st done this chare, I'll give thee leave 
To play till Doomsday." 

— Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, act v. sc. 2. 

CHAEM. A noise ; a clamour : Cyrm, Saxon. 

CHATS. The chips of wood Avhen a tree is felled. 

CHAUDBON". Entrails of a calf; metaphorically, any 
forced meats or stuffing put in the crops of birds sent 
to table : Caul, Welsh (?) 
"Add thereto a tyger's chawdron." — Shakespeare: Macbeth, act iv. 
sc. 1. 

" Swan with chaudr on."— Relation of the Island of England by an 
Italian, a.d. 1500, note 79. 



GLOSSARY. 33 

CHAW. To chew. It may be merely the Cotswold pro- 
nunciation of chew : Chaw was formerly written for' 
jaw. 

"I will put hookes in thy chawes. " — Ezekiel xxix. 4, and again 
xxxviii. 4, Breeches Bible. 

CHAWK To gape. Spoken of apples chipped in the 
rind, viz., the chawn-pippin ; also the earth opening in 
dry weather : x avV0J > Greek Probably of Indo- Germanic 
origin, and a word in use both by the Greeks and the 
Teutonic tribes. 

'• thou all-bearing earth, 
Which men do gape for, till thou cramm'st their mouths, 
And choak'st their throats with dust ; chaune thy breast, 
And let me sink into thee." 

— Ant. and Mell. Anc. Dr. II. 144. See Xares's Glossary. 

CHILVER. A ewe-lamb : Cilfer, Saxon. 

CHISSOM. To bud forth. Especially applied to the first 
shoots in newly cut coppice. 

CHOCK-FULL. Full to choking. 

CHUEK. The udder of a cow : Girt, Saxon, benignitas, 
largitas, metaphorically used (?) 

CLAMMY. Adhesive, sticky : This may be a metaphor 
drawn from the Shropshire word " Clem," to starve ; 
because the skin then adheres closely to the attenuated 
frame. 

CLAVEY. Mantle-piece; chimney-piece: Cladde, Welsh. 

CLAY-EAG. A composite stone, found in clay-pits. 

CLEATS. A small wedge, commonly of wood. 

CLEAVE. To cling to ; also to burst hard bodies asunder 
by wedges : Clifian, Saxon. 
"The clods cleave fast together. "—Job, xxxviii. 38. 
" The men of Judah clave unto their king." — II. Samuel, xx. 2. 
" The thin camelion, fed with air, receives 
The colour of the thing to which he cleaves." — Drvden. 
' ' Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, 
But with the aid of use." — Shakespeare. 

D 



34 GLOSSARY. 

" The priests with holy hands were seen to tine 
The cloven wood." — Dryden. 

CLITES. A plant, cleavers ; Galium Aparine : Clate, 
Saxon. 

"A clote-lefe he had laid under his hode." 

Chaucer. — Chanon's Yeman's Prologue. 

CLOUT. A heavy blow ; Clud, Saxon ; metaphorically de- 
rived from the clouded and swelled appearance caused 
by a heavy blow. 

CLYP. To embrace : Clippan, Saxon. 

"That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about, 
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself." 

— Shakespeare, King John, act v. sc. 2. 

COLLY. Subst., Dirt, also the blackbird ; Adject., black, 
dark ; Verb, to defile : Coal (?) In Spanish Hollin is 
soot. 

"Brief as the lightning in the eolKed night." — Shakespear* , Midsum 
Night's Dream, act i. sc. 1. 

"Nor hast thou collied thy face enough, Stinkard!" — Ben Jonson, 
Poetaster, activ. sc. 5. 

COLT. A landslip. 

COMB. A valley with only one inlet : Comb, Saxon. 

CONCEIT. To think, to believe ; Subst, A strong men- 
tal impression : Concipio, Latin. 

" The strong, by conceiting themselves weak," &c. — Dr. South. 
" One of two bad ways you must conceit me, 
Either a coward or a flatterer." — Shakespeare. 
" A blunt country gentleman, who understanding but little of the 
world, conceited the earth to be fastened to the North and South poles 
by great and massy cakes of ice." — Hagiastrologia, J. Butler, b.d. 1680, 
p. 45. 

" The same year Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Chancellor, died of 
conceit, fearing to be displaced/' — Diary of Walter Yonge, Esq., 
1619, p. 33. 

COO-TEE." The wood pigeon's note. 

COUNT. To consider ; to suppose : Compter, French. 

"Count not thy hand-maid for a daughter of Belial." — I. Samuel, 
i. 16. 



GLOSSARY. 35 

"Nor shall I count it heinous to enjoy 
The public marks of honours and rewards."— Milton. 

COUET-HOUSE. The manor-place, so called because the 
lord held his manor-court there. 

CRANK A dead branch of a tree : Krank, Dutch, sick, 
weakly. 

CEAZY. A plant — the Ranunculus Acris. 

CEINCH. A morsel : Crunch, Sanscrit, to lessen, to di- 
minish. 

CROWNED. A pollard is said by the woodwards to be 
crowned, when the rind has healed over the wound. 

CUCKOLD. The seed-pod of the Burdock ; as being 
shaped like the human head, and covered on all sides 
by little horns (?) 

CULL. A small fish, the miller's thumb : Callan, Sans- 
crit, a small fish. 

D. 

DAAK. To dig up weeds : Daque, French. 

D ADDLES. Said, playfully, of the hands : Tatze, German. 

DADDOCKY. Said of decayed timber: Quasi, dead 

oak (?) 

DAP. To sink and rebound : Doppetan, Saxon. 

DAP-CHICK. A bird, the little grebe, one of the divers. 

DAY-WOMAN. Dairy-maid : Deggia, Icelandic, to give 
suck. 

" For this damsel, I must keep her at the park ; she is allowed k>r the 
da^'-woman." — Shakespeare, Love's Labour Lost, acti. sc. 2. 

DEADLY. A word meaning intenseness in a bad sense, 
as "deadly lame," "deadly sore/' "deadly stupid," &c. 

DENT. An indentation : Dens, Latin, a tooth. 

DESIGHT. A blemish. 



36 GLOSSARY. 

DESPEBD. Beyond measure, extremely : used in an 
evil sense : Desperate. 

DISANNUL. To annul ; a reduplication of the sense : 
Nullus, Latin. 

"The Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?" — 
Isaiah, xiv. 27. 

" Wilt thou also disannul my judgment !" — Job, xl. 8. 
" For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment." — Hebrews, 
vii. 18, and in other places in the Bible. 

" Pope Pius the Fourth reflecting on the capricious and high answer 
his mad predecessor had made to her address, sent one Parpalia to her, 
in the second year of her reign, to invite her to join herself to that See, 
and he would disannul the sentence against her mother's marriage." — 
Bp. Burnet, Hist, of the Eef ormation, Part II. bk. iii. p. 417, fol. ed. 1681. 
"Then I might easily disannul the marriage. 
Scapin. — Disannul the marriage !" 

— Otway, Cheats of Scapin, act i. sc. 1. 

DISMAL. Any evil in excess — " He do cough dismal !" 
DOFF. To take off clothing: Do-off (?) 

" He that unbuckles this, till we do please 
To doff't for our repose, shall bear a storm." 

— Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, act iv. sc. 4, 

DOLLOP. A lump ; a mass of anything. 

" Of barley, the finest and greenest ye find, 
Leave standing in dallops, till time ye do bind." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, August 17. 

DON. To clothe ; to put on : Do-on? 

" Menas, I did not think 
This am'rous surfeitor would have donn'd his helm." 

— Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleop. act ii. sc. 1. 
" Then up he rose and donned his clothes." — Hamlet, act iv. sc. 5. 
" Some donned a cuirass, some a corselet bright." — Fairfax, 
Tasso, i. 72. 

DOEMOUSE. Applied to the -bat, because he sleeps in 
winter : dormio, Latin. 

DOUT. To. extinguish a light ; to put out a candle: Do 
out (?) 

" First, in the intellect it douts the light." — Sylvester, Tobacco bat- 
tered, p. 106. 

DOWLE. Down on a feather; the first appearance of 
hair : Probably, Down, corruptly used. 



GLOSSARY. 37 

" May as well 
Wound the loud winds, or with be-mockt-at stabs 
Kill the still- closing waters, as diminish 
One dowle that's in my plume. " 

— Shakespeare, Tempest, act iii. sc. 3. 

DBAVE, the same word as Thrave. A truss of straw ; 
and by metaphor, a flock of animals, a crowd : Thraf, 
Saxon. 

" They come in thraves to frolic with him." — Ben Jonson. 

DBINK. Used as a term for beer ; and limited to that 
beverage. 

" And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm." — Shakespeare, 
Midsummer Wight's Dream, act iii. sc. 3. 

DBOXY. Spoken of decayed wood : Drogenlic, Saxon. 

DETJNGE. To embarrass, or perplex by numbers : 
Throng (?) mispronounced. 

DTHOXG. Painful pulsation : Stang (?) Icelandic, same 

sense. 

DUDDLE. To stun with noise : Dyderian, Saxon. 

DUDGEON". Ill-temper ; also the dagger, as the result 
thereof. 

" When civil dudgeon first grew high, 
And men fell out, they knew not why." — Hudibras. 

DULKIN, DELKIK A small, but dark descent ; a ra- 
vine ; Dell, or dale, with kin as a diminutive. 

DUMMLE. Dull, slow, stupid : Dom, Dutch. 

DUNCH, DUNNY. Deaf ; also imperfection in any of 
the faculties. 

"What with the zmoke, and what with the criez, 
I was a'most blind, and dunch in my eyez. ?1 

—MS. Ashmole, 36, f. 112. See Halliwell's Diet. 

DTIP. To exalt ; do up (?) Possibly a metaphor from the 
portcullis. 

DUEGAN". A name found for a stocky, undersized horse, 
in all large teams : Dwerg, Saxon, a dwarf. 



38 GLOSSARY. 

DWA-AL. To ramble in mind : Dwa-elen, Teuton. 
DWAM. To faint away. 

DYNT. The impression made by a heavy blow : Dynt, 
Saxon. 

E. 

EIKY. Spoken of a tall, clean-grown timber sapling: 
Possibly, as tall enough to be chosen by the hawk for 
her eiry (?) 

ELVER A small eel : El, Saxon. 

ENTENNY. The main doorway of a house : Always so 
mispronounced. 

ETTLES. Nettles : A common mispronunciation. 

EYAS. A young hawk : A falconers term, not yet lost, 

derived from Eye ; (as next below.) See " Hamlet," act 

ii. sc. 2. 

EYE. A brood of pheasants : Ey, an egg, German. 

" Sometimes an ey or tway." — Chaucer, The ISonnes Priest's Tale, 
L 38. 

"Unslacked lime, chalk, and gliere of an ey/' — Id. The Chanones 
Yeman's Tale, 1. 252. 

" The eyren that the hue laid. "—Deposition of King Richard II. 



FAGGOT. A word applied in derogation to an old 
woman, as deserving a faggot for witchcraft or heresy. 

FALL — of the year. Autumn : Falewe, Saxon ; to grow 
yellow : the colour fallow. 

FEND. To forbid ; to defend : Defendre, French. 

FILLS— see also TILLS, THILLS, TILLER-HORSE. The 

shafts of a cart : Thill, Saxon. 

"If you draw backwards we'll put you in the fills." — Shakespeare, 
Troil. and Ores. , act iii. sc. 2. 



GLOSSARY. 39 

FILTHY, VILTEY. Filth of any kind ; weeds in culti- 
vated land. 
FLAKES, FLE-AK. A wattled hurdle. 

FLAT. A common term for a low r , concave surface in a 
field. 

FLICK. Verb. To tear off the skin or felt by the smack of 
a whip, or the hasty snap of a greyhound when he 
fails to secure the hare ; Subst., the fat between the 
bowels of a slaughtered animal. 

"I'll lend un a vlick." — Fielding's History of a Foundling, Squire 
Western passim. 

FLOWSE, FLOWSIXG. Flowing, flaunting: Fliessen, 
German. 

" They flirt, they yerk, they backward fluce, they fling, 
As if the devil in their heels had been." — Drayton. 

FLUMP. Applied to a heavy fall — " he came down with 

a flump :" Plump (?) 
FLUSH, or FLESHY. Spoken of young birds fledged. 
FOEE-EIGHT. Opposite to : Foran, Saxon. 
FOE- WHY. Because ; on account of: For-hwe, Saxon. 

"For why ? The Lord our God is good." — 100th Psalm, Old Version. 
"For why? He remembered His holy promise." — Psalm cv. 42, 
Prayer-book Version. 

FEITH. Young white thorn, used for sets in hedges : 
Ffrith, wood, Welsh. 

" To lead the goodly routs about the rural lawns, 
As over holt and heath, as thorough frith and fell." 

— Drayton. 
" He hath both hallys and bowrys, 
Frithes, fayr forests, and Howrys." 

— Romance of Emare\ 
" When they sing loud in frith or in forest." — Chaucer. 

FBOKE, FEOE. Frozen : Frieren, German. 

li The parching air 
Burns frore, and cold performs the part of fire." — Milton. 
" And some from far-off regions frore." — Bishop Mant, British Months, 
January, 703. 



40 GLOSSARY. 

FEOM-WAED, FEOM-MAED. Opposite to Toward. 

FEUM, FEOOM, FEIM, FEEM. Full, abundant, 
flourishing : From, Saxon. 

"Through the frim pastures at his leisures." — Drayton. 

G. 

GAITLE. To wander idly : Ge-gada, Saxon. 
GAITLING, GADLING An idler; a loiterer. 

" When God was on earth and wandered wide, 
What was the reason why he would not ride ? 
Because he would have no groom to go by his side, 
Nor discontented gadling to chatter and chide." 

— Old Song, Wright's House of Hanover. 

G- ALLOW. To alarm ; to frighten : Agaelan, Saxon. 

4 ' The wrathful skies 
Gallow the weary wanderers of the night." 

— Shakespeare, King Lear, act iii. sc. 2. 

GALLOWED, or GALLAED. Frightened. 

GALOEE. An exclamation signifying abundance : Gulori, 
Gaelic. 
Frequent in ballads. See Sibbald's, Bitson's, and Percy's Collections. 

GAMUT. Sport: Gamen, Saxon \ Gaman, Icelandic. 

6 'And that never on Eldridge come 
To sport, gamon, or playe." 

— Percy's Reliques, Sir Cauline. 112. 
"All wite ye good men, hu the gamon goth." — Political Song, 
Wright, p. 331, 1. 180. 

8 ' There was a gamon in Engelond that dured zer and other, 
Erliche upon the Munday uch man bishrewed others ; 
So long lasted that gamon among lered and lewed, 
That n'old they never stinten, or al the world were bishrewed." 

—p. 340, 1. 367. 

GAULY, GAUL, GALL. Sour marsh-land, metaphor 
taken from " gall," a wound ; which sense is also in 
common use : Gealla, Saxon. 

GAYN, and its contradictory, UN-GAYK Happily ad- 
vantageous ; lucky. 



GLOSSARY. 41 

GEAR Harness ; apparel : Gearwa, Saxon. 

" The frauds he learned in his frantic years, 
Made him uneasy in his lawful gears." — Dryden. 

GICK, GE-AK, KECK, KEXIES. Dry stalks, more 
especially of the tall, umbelliferous plants ; Geac. 
Saxon, 

" And nothing teems 
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kexies, burs." 

— Shakespeare, Henry V., act v. sc. 2. 
" If I had never seen, or never tasted 
The goodness of this kix, I had been a made man." 

Beaumont and Fletcher, Coxcomb, act i. sc. 2, 
"With wyspes, and kexies, and rysches ther light 
To fetch horn their husbandes, that wer them trouth- plight." 

— Ritson, Antient Songs, Tournament of Tottenham, p. 93. 

GIMMALS. Hinges: Gemelli, twins, Latin, 

GLOWE. To stare moodily, or with an angry aspect ; 
Gluren, Teuton. 

GLOUT. To look surly or sulky: Gloa, Suin-Gothic. 

" Glouting with sullen spight, the fury shook 
Her clotted locks." — Garth. 

GLUM, GLUMP. Gloomy; displeased: Glum, Teuton. 

" Whiche whilom will on folke* smile, 
And glombe on hem an othir while." 

— Chaucer, Romaunt of the Rose, 1. 4356. 

GODE. Past tense of To go, often softened into yode. 

" As I yod on a Monday 
Bytweene Wiltinden and Walle." 

— Ritson, Ballad on the Scottish War, 1. 1. 
" In other pace than forth he yode 
Returned Lord Marmion." 

— Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, canto iii. xxxi. 

GEIP. A drain : Grsep. Saxon. 

GEIT. Sandy, stony land : Gritta, Saxon. 

"Pierce the obstructive grit and restive mail." — Phillips. 

GPOANIXG. Parturition : metaphorically used. 

" You may as safely tell a story over a groaning-cheese, as to him." — 
Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, act ii. 



42 GLOSSARY. 

GKOUNDS. Commonly used for fields, and those usually 
grass-lands. 

GROUTS, GEITS. Oatmeal ; also dregs : Grut, Saxon. 

" King Hardicnute, 'midst Danes and Saxons stout, 
Caroused on nut-brown ale, and dined on grout." — King. 
"Sweet honey some condense, some purge the grout." — Dryden. 

GULCH. A fat glutton : Gulo, Latin. 

* 'You'll see us then, you will, gulch." — Ben Jonson, Poetaster, 
act iii. sc. 4. 

" Thou muddy gulch, darest look me in the face ?" — Brewer. 

GULLY. A deep, narrow ravine, usually with a rill 
therein : Gill, North country dialect. 

GUMPTION. Spirit ; sense ; quick observation : Gaum, 
Icelandic. 

" Within two yer therafter some to Morgan come, 
And, for he of the elder soster was, bed himnyme gome." 

— Kobert of Gloucester, p. 38, Hearne's Ed. 
"Aji eh, troth, Meary, Fs as gaumless as a goose." — Tim Bobbin, p. 52. 

GUEGINS. The coarser meal of wheat: quasi 
Purgings (?) 



H. 



HACKLE. A gamekeeper s word ; To interlace the hind- 
legs of game for convenience of carriage, by houghing 
the one and slitting the film of the other limb. 

HAINE. To shut up a meadow for hay : Have, a hedge, 
French. 

HALE, pronounced " Haul." To draw with violence, or 
with a team : Haa-len, Dutch. 

" Lest he hale thee to the judge." — St. Luke, xii. 58. 

HAMES, plural HAMES-ES. The wooden supports to a 
horse-collar in teams ; made of metal in coach-harness. 

HANDY. Near; convenient; when applied to an indi- 
vidual, clever: Grehend, Saxon, 



GLOSSARY. 43 

HANK. A skein of any kind of thread. 

HARBOUR. To abide ; to frequent : Herebeorgan, Saxon. 

" This night let's harbour here in York." — Shakespeare. 
' ' Let not your gentle breast 
Harbour one thought of outrage from the king." — Rowe. 

HARSLET. The main entrails of a hog : Hasla, Icelandic 
a bundle. 

"There was not a hog killed in the three parishes, whereof he had no^ 
part of the harslet, or puddings." — Ozell's P^abelais, iii. 41. See Nares'a, 
Glossary. 

HATCH. A door which only half fills the doorway. 
HAULM. Dead stalks : Healm, Saxon, 

" In champion countries a pleasure they take 

To mow up their haum, for to brew or to bake." 
" The haum is the straw of the wheat or the rie." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, January 14, 15. 

HAUNCHED. To be gored by the horns of cattle : from 
Haunch, where the wound would usually be inflicted. 

HAY-SUCK. Hedge-sparrow : Hege-sugge, Saxon. 

" Thou murdrir of the heisugge on the braunche 
That brought thee forth." 

— Chaucer, Assemblie of Fowles, 1. 612. 

HAYWARD. An officer appointed at the court leet, to see 
that cattle do not break the hedges of enclosed lands, 
and to impound them when trespassing. Hegge, Saxon. 

" The Hay ward heteth us harm." — Political Songs, temp. Edward I., 
p. 149. Wright. 

HAZEIST. To chide ; to check a doo: by the voice : Haesa, 
Saxon, mandatum. 

u Haze, perterrifacio." — Ainsworth's Dictionary. 

HEATHER, The top-binding of a hedge : Heder, Saxon. 

u In lopping and felling save edder and stake, 
Thine hedges, as needeth, to mend, or to make." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, January 13. 

HEEL — of the hand. The part above the wrist, opposite 

the thumb. 
HEFT. Subst, Weight, burden; Verb, To weigh : Hceftan, 

Saxon. 



44 GLOSSARY. 

HELE. To cover: Helan, Saxon. 

" Parde\ we women connen nothing hele, 
Witness on Midas." 

—Chaucer, Wife of Bathes Tale, 1. 94. 

HELIAE. A thatcher. 

HIC-WALL. The green woodpecker : Name derived from 
his cry. 

"The crow is digging at his breast amain, 
The sharp-nebbed hecco stabbing at his brain." — Drayton. 
"And this same herb your hickways, alias woodpeckers, use." — 
Ozell's Rabelais, iv. 62, 

HIGHST. To uplift ; to hoist. 

HILLAED, HILLWAED. Towards the hill or high 

country. 

HILT, see Yelt. 

HIXGE. The liver, lungs, and heart of a sheep, hanging 
to the head by the windpipe : Hangan, Saxon. 

HIVE. To cherish ; to cover as a hen her chickens : 
Hife, Saxon. 

" And sesith on her sete, with her softe plumes, 
And hoveth the eyren." — Deposition of King Rich. II. 

HOG. A sheep of either sex, one year old : Owca, a sheep, 
Polish (?) Og, young ; Gaelic (?) 

HOLT. A high wood : Holt, Saxon. 

" The fawkon and the fessaunt both 
Among the holtes on hee." 

— Battle of Otterbourne, Percy's Reliques. 
"Makyne went hameward blyth enough 

Out owre the holtis hair." — Ditto. 
" Whan Zephirus eke with his sote brethe 
En spired hath in every holte and hethe 
The tendre croppes." 

— Chaucer, Prol. Canterbury Tales, 1. 5. 

HOOP. The bullfinch : So called from the white mark on 
his neck. 

HOPE. A hill. 



GLOSSARY. 45 

HOUSEN. Plural of houses. 

HOX. To cut in an unseemly manner : From the ancient 
practice of houghing cattle ; sometimes, mankind. 

HUT, or HOT. Past tense of To hit, 

"A viper, smitten or hot with a reed, is astonied." 

— Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft, 5, 8. 

I 

INGLE* "Fondling; favourite; Verb, To fondle, to 
cherish, to love : Ing, Saxon, patronymic ; also diminu- 
tive, used affectionately. 

" Well, Tom, give me thy fist, we are friends, you shall be mine ingle, 
— I love you." — Ford, Witch of Edmonton, act iii. sc. 2. 

" And kissed, and ingled on thy father's knee." — Donne, Eleg. iv. 

ININ, or INNIOK The onion. 

INNARDS, INWARDS. The intestines : Innode, Saxon. 

INTO. Used frequently for "except," as " All gone into 
one ": Even to, contracted to " E'en to." 

J. 

JARL, pronounced u YARL." The title Earl : Jarl, Nor- 
wegian. 

JETTY. To protrude ; to thrust out : Jut. 

" O'erhang and jetty." — Shakespeare, Hen IV., act iii. sc. 1. 

JIGGER. To put out of joint ; as, " I'll jigger thee neck." 

* The exact meaning of this word has been misunderstood by Burns, 
and he has been followed by Sir Walter Scott, in the interpretation 
given to the word "Ingle-nook." Both these eminent poets consider 
" Ingle-nook" to mean the fire-place, — the hearth-stone ; it really means 
that seat which in wide ancient chimneys is frequently found built on 
either side the fire, and within the arch of the fire-place itself, often 
called also the " Sluggard's corner." This, as the warmest seat in the 
hall, was given to the most delicate and favoured of the children, and 
hence was called " the Ingle-nook." See also Xares's Glossary on this 
word, where the meaning, as we have stated it, is clearly maintained, 
together with an undoubted, but most unhappy, extension of it. 



46 GLOSSARY. 

JOGGET. A small load of hay. 

JOMETTBY. Spoken of anything self-supported in an 
unknown manner : Geometry. 

"It hangs by Jomettry." — Common phrase ; geometry being consi- 
dered as magic. 

JOWL. The jaw-bone : Chaule or chaw, which see. 

" Of an ass he caught the chaule-bone." — Baker, 33. 

"Pigs' chauls are to be had at every pork-shop." See ISares's Glossary. 

JUNKETS. Sweetmeats, dainties. 

"You know, there wants no junkets at the feast," — Shakespeare. 
Taming the Shrew, act iii. end. 

K 

KALLENGE. Challenge ; so pronounced. 

KECK. To heave at the stomach : Kecken, Dutch. 

" Therefore patients must not keck at them at first."— Bacon's Nat, 
History. 

" The faction — is it not notorious ? — 
Keck at the memory of the glorious." — Swift. 

KEECH. A lump of fat, congealed after melting. 

"Thou obscene, greasy tallow keech." — Shakespeare, Hen. IV., Part I. 
act ii. sc. 4. 

" I wonder, 
That such a keech can with his very bulk 
Take up the rays of the beneficial sun." 

—Hen. VIII., act i. sc. 1. 

KEER LUCKS. Look here ; so spoken. 

KEEFE. A cutting from a hayrick : Ceorfau, Saxon. 

KHSTCII. The young fry of fish : Kunch-ike, a fish, 

Sanscrit ? 

KIND. Promising well, prosperous, healthy: Cynne, Saxon. 

" The asp is kind," " the tree grows kind," " the sow looks kind." — 
Common phrases. * 

KING-CEOWN. The wild guelder rose, viburnium opulus : 
The flower formerly used wherewith to crown the king 
of May. 



GLOSSARY. 47 

KITTLE. Anything requiring nice management : Kitselen, 
Teut 



LAGGEB. A long strip of land : Laggs, long, Gothic. 

LAIKESTG. Idling, playing truant: Quasi, lacking ser- 
vice, masterless. 

1 ' And if hyni list for to laike, 
Thenne loke we mowen." — Vis. of Piers Plowman, 1. 341. 

LAMB. To beat : Perhaps the same as " lame," but it is 
popularly derived from the murder of Dr. Lamb by the 
London mob, temp. Charles I. 

LANDAM. To abuse with rancour: Damn through the 
land. 

" Would I knew the villain, 
I would land-damn him." 

— Shakespeare, "Winter's Tale, act ii. sc. i. 

LAEEOP. To beat, to flog : Said to be a sea term from 
" lee " and " rope," because the culprit goes to leeward 

to be flogged ? 

LATTEBMATH. Grass after mowing: see Atter-math. 

LAYTEE. The full amount of eggs laid by a bird. 

LEE, LEW. Shelter from wind or rain : Hie, Hlie, Ice- 
landic. 
LEECH. A cow doctor : Lece, Saxon. 

Used for a physician by old writers, passim. 

LEEE. Empty, hungry : Ge-lear, Saxon. 

" But at the first encounter down he lay, 
The horse ran leere away without the man." 

— Harrington's Ariosto, xxiv. 64. 

LEESE. To glean corn : Lesan, Saxon, 

"Mai I no longere lyve with my leesinge." — Song of the Husbandman, 
Polit. Songs, temp. Edw. I. 

" She in harvest used to leese. 
But, harvest done, to chare-work did aspire." — Dryden, 



48 GLOSSARY. 

LEXXEE, LENOW. To soften, to assuage : Lenis, Lenior, 

Latin (?) 

LIBBET. A shred, a tatter : Perhaps from the old word 
"lib " to emasculate. Shakespeare writes it ^ glib." 

" I'm libbed in the breech already." — Massinger, Kenegado, act ii.sc.2. 
" They are co-heirs, 
And I had rather glib myself than they 
Should not produce fair issues." 

— Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, act ii. sc. 1. 

LTFF, LIEVEB. Rather, more inclined to : Leof, Saxon. 
LIGHTING-STOCK. Steps to facilitate ascent or descent 

when riding. 
LIKE. A frequent pleonasm, as " dead-like," "pretty-like," 

&c. : Lich, Saxon. 
LILL. Spoken of the tongue of a dog dropping his saliva. 

" And lilled forth his bloody tongue."— Spenser's Fairy Queen, i. 32. 

LIMBER. Weak, pliant, flagging : Lim, Saxon. 

" Those waved their limber fans 
For wings."— Milton. 
" You put me off with limber vows," Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, act 
i. sc. 2. 

" Limberham," one of Dryden's comic characters ; a weak person. 

LIMP. Flabby, flexible : Lim, Saxon. 

" The chub eats waterish ; and the flesh of him is not firm, but limp 

and tasteless."— Isaac Walton. 

LliSTCH. A small precipice, usually covered with grass : 

Hlinc, Saxon. 
LINNET. Flax dressed, but not twisted into thread : Linet, 

Saxon. 
LISSOME. Active, nimble : Lightsome. 
LITHER. Light, active, sinewy : Lith, Saxon. 

" Two Talbots, winged through the lither sky, 
In thy despite shall 'scape mortality." 

— Shakespeare, Hen. VI., Part I., act iv. sc. 7. 
" I'll bring thy lither legs in better frame." — Look about you, 1600, 
Cit. St. 



GLOSSARY. 49 

LIZZEX. A chasm in a rock : Loosen ? 
LIZZOET, LEZZOEY. The Service tree. 
LOATH. Unwilling ; also verb, To abhor. 

" Egypt shall lotlie to drink of the river." — Exodus, vii. 18. 
" Ye shall lothe yourselves for your iniquities." — Ezekiel, xxx. 3, 
and passim. 

LOP. To cut growing wood : Lup, Sanscrit ? 
" Behold, the Lord shall lop the bough."— Isaiah, x. 33. 

LUG. A measure of land, a perch ; also a long pole. 

" And eke that ample pit, yet far renowned 
For the large leap which Debon did compel 
Coulin to make — being eight lugs of ground." 

— Spenser's Fairy Queen, ii. x. 11. 

LL T SH. Abundant, flourishing. 

"How lush and lusty the grass looks." — Shakespeare, Tempest, act 
ii. sc. 1. 

LUSTY. Strong, in full health : Lust, Saxon. 

" Where barley ye sow, after rye, or else wheat, 
If the land be un-lusty the crop is not great." 

— Tusser's Husbandly, October, 24. 

M. 

MAIN, AMAIN, MAINLY. In an excessive degree : 
Magn, Icelandic. 

MAKE. Mate, companion, lover : Maca, Saxon. 

" There's no goose so grey in the lake, 
That cannot find a gander for her make." 

— Lyly's Mother Bombie, iii. 4. 
" This is no season 
To seek new makes in." 

— Ben Jonson, Tale of a Tub, act i. sc. 1. 
" The maids and their makes, 
At dances and wakes." — Owls. 

MAMMOCK. Subst, A shred, a tatter ; verb, To tear in 
pieces. 

" He did so set his teeth, and tear it ; 0, I warrant, how he mammockt 
it." — Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act i. sc. 3. 

E 



50 GLOSSARY. 

MAUNDER. To ramble in mind, to speak uncertainly, 
to mutter, to grumble : Maudire, French. 

" My neighbour justice maunders at me." — Beaumont and Fletcher, 
Rule a Wife, act iii. sc. 1. 

" He made me many visits, maundering, as if I had done him an injury, 
in having such, an opening."— Wiseman's Surgery. 

MAZZARDS. Wild cherries : Perhaps from their resem- 
blance in shape to the skull ; in which latter sense the 
word is used by Shakespeare and Butler. 

" And knockt about the mazzard with a sexton's spade." — Shakes- 
peare, Hamlet, act v. sc. 1. 

" Where thou might' st stickle, without hazard 
Of outrage to thy hide or mazzard." — Hudibras. 

MERE. A strip of grass left as a boundary in open fields : 
Mear, Saxon. 

" And Hygate made the meare thereof by west." — Spenser's Fairy 
Queen, iii. ii. 46. 

" What mound, or steady mere, is offered to my sight ?" 
" The furious Team, that, on the Cambrian side, 
Doth Shropshire, as a mear, from Hereford divide." 

— Drayton's Polyolbion, i., pp. 656 and 807. 

MICHE, MYCHE, MOOCHE. To idle, to play truant; to 

pilfer. 

" This is miching mallecho, — it means mischief." — Shakespeare, Ham- 
let, act. iii. sc. ii. 

" Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher, and eat black- 
berries ?"— Hen. IV., Part I., act ii. sc. 4. 

" Sure she has some meaching rascal in her house." — Beaumont and 
Fletcher. 

MILT. The spleen : From its resemblance to the spawn 

of fish (?) 
MIND. To remember : Munan, Saxon. 
'MIKE. To wonder, to admire ; the first syllable cut off : 

Admiror, Latin. 
MIRKSHET. Twilight : Mirce, Saxon. 

" Ere twice, in merk and occidental damp, 
Moist Hesperus hath quench t his sleepy lamp." 

—Shakespeare, All's Well, &c, act ii. sc. 1. 



GLOSSARY. 51 

MOIL, MYLE. To labour, to toil, to defile by labour. 

The well known anagram on the name of Sir William Noy, Att. Gen, 
to King Charles L, is an example of this word, " I nioyl in law." 

" In th' earth we moile with hunger, care, and pain." — Mirr. for 
Magist., p. 75, ed. 1610, 

MOOR. A marsh : Moor, Teuton. 

" No, Csesar ; — they be pathless, moorish minds, 
That being once made rotten with the dung 
Of damned riches, ever after sink.'' — Ben Jonson. 

" Along the moorish fens 
Sighs the sad genius of the coming storm." — Thomson, 

MOOR-HEX. The water-hen, the gallinull. 
MORE. The roots of a plant : Moran, Saxon. 
" Ten thousand mores of sundry scent and hew." — Spenser. 

MORIXG-AXE. A pick-axe. 

MORT. A vast quantity : Mors, death, Latin ; as enough 
to kill one ; or Morgt, Icelandic. 

"Here's a mort of merry making, eh?" — Sheridan, The Rivals, act 
i. sc. 1. 

" Nobody knows what a mort of fine things he used to say to me."— 
Mrs. Cowley, Belle's Stratagem, act iii. sc. 1. 

MORTAL. Excessively, extremely. 

MOTHERIXG-SUXDAY. Midlent Sunday : when cakes 
were presented to children or friends. 

" I'll to thee a simnell bring 
'Gainst thou goest a mothering." — Herrick. 

MOUXD. A fence, a boundary : Mund, Saxon. 

" No cold shall hinder me, with horns and hounds 
To thrid the thickets, or to leap the mounds." — Dryden. 

MUX. An affirmative interjection, probably Man : Mon, 

Saxon. 

" Jacob. — But the best fun is to come, mun ! 

Vane. — Now to the point {aside) — Is your lady married ? 
Jacob. — Noa ; but she's as good ; and what's think, mun ? To a 
lord's zun !" — Mrs. Centlivre, Chapter of Accidents, act ii. sc. '2. 

"Is it not pure ? 'Tis better than lavender, mun !" — Congreve, Love 
for Love, act ii. sc. 10. 



52 GLOSSARY. 

MUST. The crushed apples or pears, when the juice is 
pressed out for cyder or perry : Mustum, Latin. 



N. 



NAGGLE, NIGGLE. To tease, to fret ; to nibble with the 

teeth : Nsegel, a nail, Saxon. 

jSTALE. An ale-house : iEle, Saxon. 
ISTAEOiSr. Xone : Never, ne'er a one. 
NATION. Very. 

" Nation vine weyther." — Common phrase. 

XEIVE. The hand : Xaeve, Danish. 

"I wu'-uot, my good twopenny rascal, reach me thy neuf." — Ben Jon- 
son, Poetaster, act iii. sc. 4. 

" Give me thy neefe, Monsieur Mustard-seed'." — Shakespeare, Midsnm. 
Night's Dream, act iv. sc. 1. 

XESH. Weak, tender : Xesc, Saxon. 

" Oure nesch and hard heifore, and did the Welsh-men daie." — Pet. 
Langtoft, p. 242. Hearne's ed. 

"For love his harte is tendre and nesche." —Chancer, Court of Love. 

"The darker fir, light ash, and the nesh tops of the young hazel join." 
— Crowe, Lewesden Hill, v. 31. 

NOT, NOTTED. Applied to cattle without horns : be- 
cause in such cases the brow is thickly knotted with 
hair. 

NTJNCHEON. Vulgarly,luncheon : Noon-chine. Some de- 
rive it from " noon-shun," as if to refresh while avoid- 
ing the heat of midday. 

" With cheese and butter -cakes enow, 

On sheaves of corn were at their nunshons close." 

— Brown, Brit. Pastorals, p. 2, v. 8. 

" Laying by their swords and truncheons, 
They took their breakfasts and their nuncheons." — Hudibras. 



GLOSSARY. 53 



0. 

ODDS. Any difference between two specimens or state- 
ments. 

OK The sign of the genitive case. 

" One on 'em," (one of them). — Common plirase. 

OODLE, HOODLE, WOOD-WAIL The nightingale : 
Wald and Wala, Saxon. 

" The wood-wail sung and would not cease, 
Sitting upon a spray, 
Soe loud she wakened Robin Hood 
In the greene wood where he lay." 

— Percy's Ballads, viii. 86. 

OONT oe "WOOXT. The mole : Wand-nurre, Saxon. 

" She hath the ears of a want, — a mole." — Lyly's Midas, act v. sc. 2. 

OE. Before: Ere. 

" At last he drew 
His sword ar he were y-wer." — Robert of Gloucester. 
" Or ever your pots be made hot with thorns." — Ps. lviii. 8. Prayer- 
book version. 

" Or ever they came at the bottom of the den." — Daniel vi.,24 
"And we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him." — Acts of 
Apost. xxiii. 15. 

OETS. Chaff, any worthless matter : Nought ; the first 
letter struck off (?) 

P. 

PACE. To raise with a lever : Pesser, French. 

PAEGITEB. A plasterer. 

PAUlSrCH. Verb, a sporting word, To disembowel game, 

" The vi. day of August was bered in Powle's Cherch-yerd on Archer, 
the wych was slain at Sant James fayre, in the feld by on . . . sham- 
fully, for he was panchyd with ys own sword." — Machyn's Diary, 1558, 
p. 170. 

PEASEX. The plural of pea : Pois, French. 



54 GLOSSARY. 

' ' With peasen, for pottage in Lent, 
Thou sparest both oatmeal and bread to be spent." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, March, 26. 
"Count peason or brank as a comfort to land." — Tusser's Hus- 
bandry, October, 20. 

PECK. To fall forward with the motion of a bird pecking ; ( 
also, to fling aAvay — in the latter sense, see Example. 

"You i' th' camblet, get up o' the rail, I'll peck you o'er the pales 
else." — Shakespeare, Hen. VIII. , act v. sc. 5. 

PELT. To throw stones or other missiles. FULL PELT, To 
run with speed and force — metaphor, from a shower of 
stones. 

PICK. A hay fork : Pike, Puc, Saxon. Acicula (?) 

PIDDLE. To triflle, to do light work. 

' ' I am now going to a party of quadrille, only to piddle at a little of 
it at two poor guineas a fish." — Farquhar, Journey to London, act 
i. sc. 1. 

" From slashing Bentley down to piddling Tibbalcls." — Pope. 

" Piddling at a mushroom, or the haunch of a frog." — Guardian, 
No. 34. 

" He recommended that we should begin piddling with a quart of 
claret a day." — Sir Walter Scott, Kob Eoy. 

PILL. The pool caused by the junction of two streams : 
Pil, Welsh. 

PIP. Verb. To break the egg in hatching ; also the first 
bursting of a flower pod : Peep. 

PIPtGY. Quarrelsome, cross-grained in temper : Burgh, 
Saxon, any place strengthened for opposition. 

PITCH. To fall do wn heavily ; also to cast away a burden, 
as " pitching " or loading hay into a waggon, 

" And tho he was y-flowe an hey, and ne cowthe not a ligte 
A doun mid so gret eir to the erthe he fel and pigte." 

— Robert of Gloucester, p. 29. 
" Forward he flew, and pitching on his head, 
He quivered with his feet and lay for dead." — Dryden. 

PITH, PETH. The crumb of bread ; the formation in the 
cavity of the elder tree : Pitha, Saxon. 

PLASH. A small pool : Plasche, Teuton. 



O" 



GLOSSARY. 55 

" For I have Pisa left, 
And am to Padua come ; as he that leaves 
A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep." 

— Shakespeare, Taming the Shrew, act i. sc. I. 

PLEACH. To lay a hedge ; to intertwine the branches of 

pollards for shading a walk. 
PLIM, To swell with moisture : Plyme ; prunum, Saxon I 

(Metaphorically used to express any swelling containing 

moisture). 
"The bacon plims in the pot." — Grose. 
PLY. To bend ; Subst. A bending, a turn. 

" I think not Prince Charles safe in Jersey. In God's name let him 
stay with thee, till it is seen what ply my business will take." — King 
Charles I. to his Queen ; letter dated Newcastle, May 28, 1646. 

POLLAPiDS oe POLTS. A mixed crop of peas and beans : 
Bol, Dutch, a bean, or peul, a chick-pea. 

" White pollard or red, that so richly is set, 
For land that is heavy, is best ye can get." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, October, 16. 

POSSY. A great number: The sheriff's posse comitatus. 
POTCH. To poke with the finger, or any blunt instrument. 

POVEY. An owl : From the appearance of the bird, 

" puffy." 
POWER. Any vast accumulation. 

POZY. A bunch of flowers, a nosegay : such nosegays were 
formerly presented to ladies with laudatory poesies. 

"Be merry 
And drink sherry — that's my posie." 

— Ben Jonson, New Inn. 

PEIZE. Verb, To weigh : Priser, French, to appraise, to 

value. 
PEOXG-. A large hay-fork : Prion, Icelandic. 

" Be mindful 
With iron teeth of prongs to move 
The crusted earth." — Dry den's Virgil. 
" High o'er the hearth a chine of bacon hung ; 
Good old Philemon seized it with a prong." 

— Baucis and Philemon. 



56 GLOSSARY. 

PUCK. A quantity of sheaves stacked together : Poke, 
pocket. 

PUCK-FOUST A fungus, the puff-ball : Puck, the fairy, 
and fust. 

PUCK-LEDDEK Deceived, betrayed by false ideas : 
Led by Puck, the fairy. 

PUE. The udder of a cow : Piw, Welsh, a dug. 

PUKE. In good health, or with good success. 

PUEL. To throw with violence. Quasi, hurl ? 



Q. 
QUAE. A stone quarry : Carriere, French. 

" The stwons that bwilt Gearge Ridler's oven, 
And thay did cwome vrom Blakeney's Quarr." 

— Old Song in Gloucestershire. See also Drayton. 
" Cut from the quar 
Of Machiavel,- — a true cornelian." 

— Ben Jonson, Magnetic Lady, act i. sc. 7. 

QUAEEEL. A square pane of glass : Carreau, French. 

" A lozenge is a most beautiful figure — being in his kind a quadrangle 
reverst, with his point upwards, like a quarrel of glass." — Puttenham, B, 
II., ch. 11. 

QUICK, QUICKSET. Young white-thorn for hedges: 
Derived from rapidity of growth. 

QUILT. To swallow, to gulp, to catch breath by swal- 
lowing : derived from the sound. 

" How now, blown, Jack ? How now, quilt ?" — Shakespeare, Hen. IV., 
Part I. , act iv. sc. 2. 

" He sat with me while I had quilted two pigeons, very handsome and 
good meat."— Pepys's Diary, Sept. 26, 1668. 

QUIST. A wood-pigeon : Cuseote, Saxon. 
QUITCH, SQUITCH. Couch-grass: Cwice, Saxon. 

QUOB, QUOP. To tremble, to quail, to beat strongly at 
the heart. 



'GLOSSARY. 57 

" His hearte began to q nappe, 
Hearing her come." — Chaucer. 
" My heart 'gan quop full oft." — Ordinary II. 2. 

" But, zealous sir, what say you to a touch at praier ? How quops the 
spirit V — Fletcher's Poems, p. 203. 

QUOMP. To subdue : Cwealm, Saxon. 

R 

EACK. A path, chiefly applied to paths mades by hares : 
Balka, cursitare, Sivedish; or racke, a track, Dutch. 

BAG-. To chide, to abuse : AYregan, Saxon, 

" I ragged him for it." — Pegge. 

BAMES. Dead stalks ; also a skeleton. 

BAMSHACKLE. To move, with noise, in a loose, dis- 
jointed manner : Earn in shackles. 

" He came in ram-shackle fashion." — Common phrase. 

EAMSOXS. Broad-leaved garlic, allium ursinum. 

" The third sort of garlic, caUed ramsons, hath mostly two brode 
blades or leaves." — Lyte's Dodoeus, p. 734. 

BANGLE. To entwine, to embarrass as woodbine : Wran- 
gle, to argue, metaphorically used. 

BASSLE. To run at the roots, and thus to form new plants : 
Quasi, wrestle. 

BATH. Early, quick, rash : Hraeth, Saxon. 

BAUG-HT. The past tense of Beach. : Bee lite, Saxon. 

" That with his grene top the heven raught." — Chaucer, The Knights' 
Tale, 1. 2917. 

" The moon was a month old when Adam was no more, 
And raught not to live weeks when he came to five score." 

— Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act iii. sc. 2. 
" This staff of honour raught, — there let it stand, 
Where best it fits to be, — in Henry's hand." 

Id.— Hen. IV., Part II., act ii. sc. 3. 
"The English, then supposed to be alone, came in presence of the 
enemie before that intelligence rought him." — Autobiography of K. Jas. 
IL, Vol. ii. p. 493, fol. ed. 



58 GLOSSARY. 

EAVES. The rails which surround the bed of a waggon, 
EAVELMENT. Entanglement. 
EEED. Counsel : Eced, Saxon. 

" He could no better rede/' — Chaucer, Monk's Tale. 

" Himself the primrose-path of dalliance treads, 
And recks not his own rede." 

— Shakespeare, Hamlet, act i. sc. 3. 

EEEK A small stream : Ehin, Welsh. 
EEEEMOUSE. The bat : Hrere-mus, Saxon. 

" Some war with rear-mice for their leathern wings." — Shakespeare, 
Midsum. Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 3. 

" Once a bat, and ever a bat, — a reremouse and bird of twilight." — 
Ben Jonson, New Inn, act iii. sc. 1. 
" Sir, I keep no shades 
Nor shelters, I, for either owls or rere-mice." 

Ibid., act i. sc. 2. 

EE1STEAGE. To renounce, to deny ; but chiefly, to decline 
to follow suit at cards : Eenier, French. 

6 4 His captain's heart, 
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst 
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper." 

— Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleopatra, act. i. sc. 1. 

EETCH. To strain before sickness : Hroecan, Saxon. 
EIDE. A rootstock in coppice : Wriden, Saxon, germinare. 
EIME. Hoar-frost : Eim-frost, Saxon. 

" In rime-frosts you shall find drops of dew upon the inside of glass 
windows." — Bacon. 

EINCE, EIXCE OUT. To cleanse; applied chiefly to 
washing drinking glasses : Hrains, Goth., to cleanse. 

" This last costly treaty 
Swallowed so much treasure, and, like a glass, 
Did break in the rinsing." — Shakespeare. 
"They cannot boil, nor wash, nor rinse, they say." — King. 

EIVE. To split asunder. 

" I was about to tell thee, when my heart, 
As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain." 

— Shakespeare, Troil. and Cress, act i. sc. 1. 



GLOSSARY. 59 

EOLLEES. Hay rolled together preparatory to loading. 
KONGS. Steps in a ladder: Hrugg, Goth. idem. 

This word is used for staves in Eitson's Antient Ballads. 

ROUND, RUNE. Verb, To whisper: Rinnan, Saxon. 

"What rownest thou with our maide ? Benedicite !" — Chaucer, Wife 
of Bath's Prologue. 

" They're here with me already ;— whispering, rounding, 
'Sicilia is a so-forth.' " — Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, act i. sc. 1. 

BOUNDS. An accustomed circuit. 

" Edward, with horror and alarm, beheld the animal making his 
rounds." — Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, ch. xi. 

EOVE. The past tense of Rive ; also to wander. 

RUCK. A crease in a garment, any accumulation : Hric, 

Saxon. 

RUGG-LE. Verb, to struggle ; subst. A child's rattle, a bell 
for sheep : Hrug, Saxon, asper. 

RUMELE. To discompose linen, bedding, wearing apparel, 

&c. 

RUSTY, EEASTY. Spoken of rancid bacon, or salt meat. 

" Through folly too beastly 
Much bacon is reasty." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, November. 

s. 

SCANTLINGS. The slabs or outsides of a tree, when 
sawn into boards. 

SCATHE, SCEATH. Damage : Sceathe, Saxon. 

" But she was some-dele defe, and that was scathe." — Chaucer, Cant. 
Tales, Prol., 1. 448. 

"Of scathe I will me skere. — Political Songs, temp. Ed. I. 

" To do offence, or scathe, in Christendom." — Shakespeare, K. John, 
act ii. sc. 1. 

SCORT. The foot-marks of horses, cattle, or deer ; also 
the drag on a wheel ; because it scores the road : Quasi, 
scored, or scaera, Suio- Gothic, incidere. 



60 GLOSSARY. 

SCEEECH. A bird, the swift : from its cry when on the 
wing. 

SGREECH-DHOSSLE. The missel-thrush : Drossel, Ger- 
man, and screech, its cry when alarmed. 

SCEUB. Shrub : Scrob, Saxon. 

SCKUSE, SCEUZ. The past tense of Squeeze. 

" And having scruz out of his carrion corse 
The hateful life." — Spenser, Fairy Queen. 

SCUBBUvT. The fore quarter of a lamb without the 
shoulder. 

SEEDS. A clover lay. 

SEG. A clothier's word — Urine used in their fabrics : 
Sege, Saxon, Casus ? 

SEGS, ZEGS. Sedges, the water plant : Secge, Saxon. 

" Segs, and bulrush, and the shepherd's reed."— Drayton, Moses, p. 
1582. 

" I've wove a coffin, for his corse of segs, 
That with the wind did wave like bannerets." 

— Cornelia, Old Plays ii. 266. See Nares's Glossary. 

SEWEXT. Successive, applied to a continuous rain : Sew, 
to follow, Cornish (?) The law word, To sue. 

" And heo of Troy siwede without eny feyntyse." — Robert of Glou- 
cester, p. 20. 

SHAED. A breach in a fence. 

" And often to our comfort we shall find 
The shard ed beetle in a safer hold 
Than is the full- winged eagle." 

— Shakespeare, Cymb. act iii. sc. 3. 

SHATTEBS. . Fragments of broken pottery, glass, or other 
hard but fragile substances. 

SHIDE. A small plank, a piece of wood split off from 
timber : Scide, Saxon. 

Frequent in Sibbald's Collection of Old Ballads. 



GLOSSARY. 61 

SHOEE UP. To prop with timber. 

" They undermined the wall, and, as they wrought, shored it up with 
timber. " — Knowles. 

SHOT, SHOT OF. To be rid of ; Sliittan, Saxon, to cast 
down or away. 

" I am well shot of it." — Common phrase. 

SHEIM. To shiver, to shrink up with cold or terror. 
Scrimmaii, Saxon. 

SHEOUD. To lop a pollard tree. Screadan, Saxon. 

SIGHT. A vast number. 

" A sight of blind volk." — Cotswold phrase. 
" A sight of flambeaux, and a noise of fiddles." — Shad well, The 
Scowrers, act, v. sc. 1. 

SKAG. A rent; also a branch not pruned close to the tree. 

SKALE. A skimming dish : Schale, idem, Longdbardic. 

SKELM. A long pole. 

SKID. A drag to a carriage, the shoe under the wheel : 
Skid, idem. Icelandic. 

SKIUL, SKEEL. A shallow tub wherein to cool beer : 
Quasi, Schale as above ? 

SKILLING-. A cow-shed : Skiul, idem, Swedish. 

SKEIKE. To shriek : Skrika, idem, Swedish. 

SKUEEY. A flock in confused flight : Skare, Icelandic, 
whence Scare, to alarm. 

SKKAWL, SCEAWLING FEOST. The slight frost which 
scrawls the earth in rectangular lines. 

SLABS. The outsides of a tree when sawn into boards. 

SLAM. To beat ; especially to shut the door with vio- 
lence : Slaemra, Icelandic. 

SLAMMEEKIN. A slut : Schlamm, dirt, German. 



62 GLOSSARY. 

SLAT. Used for " slit " to split, to separate, -to crack. 

SLEIGHTS. Down-land, grass kept solely for pasture : 
Slighted. 

SLEEZE. A clothier's word, to express the separation of 
texture in a badly woven cloth. 

SLICK. Slippery : Schlicht, Teuton. 

SLICKUTS. Curds and whey: " Slick" and " eat ?" 

SLINGE. A clothier s word, To steal wool from the pack 
in small quantities at a time : Slincan, Saxon, to slink, 
to sneak. 

SLIVER. A slice of anything ; used by Shakespeare as a 
verb : Slifan, Saxon. 

" "When frost will not suffer to dike and to hedge, 
Then get thee a heat with thy beetle and wedge : 
Once Hallowmas come, and a fire in the hall, 
Such slivers do well for to lie by the wall." 

— Tusser's Husbandry, December, 1. 

" Slips of yew 
Slivered in the moon's eclipse." 

— Shakespeare. Macbeth, act iv. sc. 1 . 

" She that herself will sliver and disbranch 
From her maternal sap, perforce must wither." 

— King Lear, act iv. sc. 2. 

SMACK. A blow with the open hand producing a noise, 
an audible kiss : Smitan, Saxon. 

SNEAD, SISTER The handle of a scythe : Snsed, Saxon. 

" This is fixed on a long snead or straight handle, and doth wonder- 
fully expedite the trimming of hedges." — Evelyn's Silva, xiii. 2. 

SNITE. To blow the nose. Snytan, Saxon. 

" So looks he like a marble towards raine ; 
And wrings, and suites, and weeps, and wipes again." 

— Hall's Satires, vi. 1. 

SNOUL. A lump, particularly of bread, cheese, or the 
like : Snidan, Saxon, amputare, suars. 

SNUGGLE. To lie close together, as children : Snug. 



GLOSSARY. 63 

SOLID. Steady, continuous progress : Soliclus, Latin. 

"To go solid," " a solid rain." — Cotswold phrases. 

SPAE. A wooden bolt : Sparrian, Saxon. 

' " I've heard you offered, sir, to lock up smoke, 
And calk your windows, spar up all your doors." 

Ben Jonson, Staple of News, act ii. 
" And the gates after them speed." — .Robert of Brunne. 
" And rent adown both wall, and sparre, and rafter." — Chaucer, 
Knight's Tale, 1. 132. 

SPAUL. The broad wound in a timber tree by rending 
off a considerable branch: Spia ell, segmentum,/cefe?irfic. 

SPAY- SPEED. Humour discharged from the eyes : 
" Speed," as proceeding from, and " spay " to geld, to 
render unfruitful ? 

SPEAR Often used to denote a rapier, a sword-stick or 

spit : Ysbur, a spit, Welsh ? 
SPEW. A spungy piece of ground. 
SPIT. A spade : rapid pronunciation. 
SPEACK. Lively, vigorous : Spraeg, famosus, Swedish 

" He is a good sprag memory." — Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Wind- 
sor, act iv. sc. 1. Here Evans uses the g for ck, as in " hig, haeg, 
hog," which is his Welsh pronunciation for " hie, hasc, hoc." The 
ancient use of the word " sprack " is seen in the sobriquet given to 
Thorgil, King of Sweden, circa, 960, viz., " Thorgil-sprack-a-leg " — i.e. } 
Thorgil the "nimble," or "with the handsome leg:" probably both 
meanings were applicable. 

SPBEATHE. To have the face or hands roughened by frost 

SPUKTLE. To sprinkle with any fluid. 

SQUAIL. To pelt with stones or sticks : 7pD? Hebrew 
idem. 

SQUASH, SQUICH. The crushing any moist or tender 
body by a fall or blow. 

SQUISH-QUASH. The walking through mud or shal- 
low water. 



64 GLOSSARY. 

SQUAT. Verb, To sit close, as a hare ; subst., a bruise or 
indentation. 

* ' Him they found, 
Squat like a toad close at the ear of Eve." — Milton. 
" Bruises, squats, and falls, which often kill others, hurt not the tem- 
perate." — Herbert 

STAG, STAEG. A young ox. 

STANK. A pool caused by a dam on a stream ; also the 
dam itself : Stanc, Welsh, idem. 

" Thei lighted and abided biside a water-stank." — Peter Langtoft. 

STEER A heifer : Stire, Saxon, vitulus. 

STIVE, STIVE UP. To stifle with heat. 

STOGGLE. A pollard tree : stock. 

STOEM-COCK. The missel thrush: because he sings 
with more power in stormy weather. 

STOWL, STOOL. The stump left in coppice-wood after 
the cutting. 

STEAIGHTWAYS. Immediately. 

SWAG, SWAGGLE. To sway to and fro : Swegia, Ice- 
landic, idem. 

" The motion of the moon s waggles the whole water of the sea, and, 
as it returns back again westward, brings aU the whole sea, with a 
s waggle, back to landward upon us." — Hagiastrologia, J. Butler, B.D. 
1680, p. 45. 

SWALE. To waste away, as a lighted candle in the wind ; 

also to singe : Swelan, Saxon. 

" But dashed with rain from eyes, and s wailed with sighs, burn dim." 
— Congreve. 

" Into his face the brondhe forst, his huge beard brent, and swailing 
made a stink." — Phaer. 

SWELTEE. To faint with heat, to sweat : Sweltan, Saxon. 

" If the sun's excessive heat 
Makes our bodies swelter."— Chalk-hill. 

SWICH. Such. 



GLOSSARY. 65 

" Suich Giffarde's asoyne, icholde horn ofte come." — Robert of Glou- 
cester, vol. II., p. 539. 

" Suich was the morthre of Eivesharn vor bataile it nas non." — 
p. 560. 

" For unto swiche a worthy man as he 
Accordeth nought." 
—Chaucer, Prol. Cant. Tales, L 243, 247, 487. Et passim, 

SWIG. To drink fully, to drain the cup : Swiga, Icelandic, 
idem. 

1 ' The lambkins swig the teat, 
And rind no moisture." — Creech. 

SWILL. To wash away : Swelan, Saxon, 

' ' As fearfully as does the galled rock 
O'erhang and jetty his confounded base. 
Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean." 

— Shakespeare, Henry V. ? act iii. sc. I. 

SWOP. To barter, to exchange : Suaip, Gaelic, idem. 

" I would have swopped youth for old age, and all my life behind, to 
have been then a momentary man."— Dryden. 

T. 

TABLING-. The coping on a wall or gable, 

TACK. Grazing for cattle through the summer. 

TALLOW. Concrete stalactite found in oolitic rocks : from 
the appearance. 

TALLUT. The hayloft, 

" Thayloft— Thalloft— Thallet -Talhit." — Cotswold contractions. 

TED. To spread abroad new-mown grass for hay : Teadan, 
Saxon. 

" The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine." — Milton. 
" Go, sirs, and away, 

To ted and make hay."— Tusser, July's Abstract 

TEEM. To empty ; spoken of a tub. 

TEG. A lamb, one year old : Tyccen, Saxon, 

TEEEIFY, To annoy, to vex, to harass. 

F 



66 *■;" 'GLOSSARY. 

TESTEE. A sixpence ; so named from the royal head on 
it : Teste, Old French. 

'•Well, said I, Wart, thou art a good scab; hold, there's a tester for thee." 
— Shakespeare, Henry IV., Part II., act iii. sc 2. 

" Who throws away a tester and a mistress, loses a sixpence." — 
Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, act i. sc. 1. 

THEAVE. A ewe hi the second year. 

THIC, THACH. This, that. 

THILLEB, TILLEB. The shaft-horse in a waggon ; Thill, 
Saxon. 

" Thou hast got more hair on thy chin, than Dobbin, my thill-horse, 

has on his tail." — Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 2. 

TICE. To entice, — a contraction. 

TICKLE. Uncertain in temper, frail, shy, liable to acci- 
dents. 

"Heo is tikel of hire tayl ; talwys of hire tonge." — Piers Ploughman's 
Vision, Pass, iii, 1. 126. 

TLD. Playful, sometimes in a bad sense, mischievously fro- 
licsome. 
TIDDLE. To rear up delicately : Tycld, Saxon, id. 
TIDY. Xeat ; also, as a result of neatness, frugal. 

TILE OPEX. To set open a gate ; properly, to fix it open with 
a stone : because the stone fittest for the purpose is 
thin ; like a tile. 

TILT, TILT OVEE. To overthrow : a word probably 
from the tilt-yard. 
" Alternately to dash him to the pavement, and tilt him aloft again." 

— Burton's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 274. 

TINE. To kindle- See " Candle-tinning." 
TITTY. An -epithet applied to a wren : Titje, any small 
bird, Teuton. 

" And of these chanting fowls, the goldfinch not behind, 
That hath so many sorts descending from her kind ; 
The titty for her notes as delicate as they." 

. p p — Drayton, Polyolb. xiii. p. 915. 



GLOSSARY. '37 

TEIG. Neat, quick, ready : Tryg, Danish idem. 

" You are a pimp and a trig, 
An Amadis de Gaul, or a Don Quixote." 

— Ben Jonson, Alchemist, act iv. sc. 1. 

TTD. Ail apple dumpling. 

" As round as a tud, and as slick as a oont." Spoken of a child's 
cheek. 

TUMP. Earth, thrown up : Twrnp, Welsh idem. 
" Tump, a hillock, tumulus." — Ains worth's Diet. 

TUX. That part of the chimney which stands above the 
roof : Tunnel, a contraction. 

TUSSOCK. A thick tuft of grass : Tusw, Welsh, a wisp, a 
bunch. 

TWAITE. A fish, of the shad kind. 

TWICHLLD. The childish imbecility of asje : Twice and 

child. 

TWINK. The chaffinch : Wine, Welsh ; Winke, Austrian, 
all derived from the note of the bird. 

TWISSLE. To turn about rapidly. 
TWITCH. To touch ; the W intrusive. 

TYNING. An enclosure from a common field : Tynan, 
Saxon, to lose, because the common field loses it. 

U. 

UNKAKD, UNKET. Unknown, uncouth, lonely : Unceid, 

Saxon. 
UPSHOT. The amount of a reckoning ; the result of any 

train of circumstances. 

V. 

VALUE, (pronounced VALLEY). L^secl with much the 
same meaning as Upshot. 

(i I went the vallie of foive maile." — Ootswold phrase. 

F 2 



6$ GLOSSARY. 

VELLET oe FELLET. The annual fall in coppice : To 
fell 

VENTEKSOME. Heedless ; daring. 

VINNEY. Mildewed, mouldy ; especially spoken of bread : 
Finig, Saxon. 

" Many of Chaucer's words are become, as it were, vine wed, and hoare 
with over-long lying." — T. Beaumont. See fare's Glossary. 

VLAKE, Flake. A wattled hurdle : Vlaeck, Teuton, id. 

VOSSLE, FOSSLE. To entangle; to confuse business: 
Fuss ; fussy (?) 

W. 
WAG, WAGGLE. To move ; to vacillate : Wagion, Saxon. 

1 ' You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
Wag their high tops." — Shakespeare. 

WAIN-COCK. A waggon-load of hay, cocked in one mass 
for security against rain : Wain, an old word for waggon. 

WALLOP. To beat. 

WAMBLE, WABBLE. To move awkwardly, or to and 
fro : Wemmelen, Dutch. 

" When your cold salads, without salt or vinegar, 
Be wambling in your stomachs." — Beaumont and Fletcher, 

WAP. To beat : Wapper, a whip, Teuton. 

WAPPEE. A word expressing unusual size, as being able 
to beat. 

WAPPEEED. Fatigued ; beaten. 

" This it is 
That makes the wappered widow wed again. 

— Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act iv. sc. 3. 
" We come towards the gods, 
Young, and un- wappered, not halting under crimes." 

— Beaumont and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen,act v. sc. 4. 

WAEND. To assure ; to make certain : Contracted from 
Warrant. 






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I 

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GLOSSARY. 69 

WAEP. To cast young prematurely ; to miscarry : Werpen, 
Dutch. 

WEETHY. Soft ; pliant ; flexible: With, the plant Vitelba. 

WELT. To strengthen a door or vessel with metallic 
bands, usually iron. 

WET. Used, as a substantive, for rain. 

" Come in, out of the wet." — Cotswold phrase. 

WHALE. A stripe ; the mark left by the lash of a whip : 
Wala (?) Saxon. 
"Thy sacred body was stripped of thy garments, and waled with 
bloody stripes." — Bishop Hall. 

WHATTLE and DAB. A building of whattle-work and 
plaster. 

WHEEDLE. To coax ; to deceive by flatteries : Adwelian, 
Saxon. 

"To learn the unlucky art of wheedling fools." — Dryden. 
"They mixed threats with their wheedles." 
" Some were wheedled, and others terrifyed, to fly in the face of their 
benefactor." — Autobiography of King James II. vol. ii. pp. 143 and 145. 

WHELM. To overthrow : Wilma, Icelandic, id. ; Spoken 
frequently of a waggon. 

" They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence 
Under the weight of mountains buried deep." — Milton. 

WHIFFLE. To move lightly; to trifle : Gwibl, Welsh, id. 

" Every whiffler in a laced coat, who frequents the chocolate houses, 
shall prate of the constitution." — Dean Swift. 

WHIMPEE. To cry ; to whine as a dog. 

WICKER To neigh : Whitchelen, Dutch, id. 

WINCH-WELL. A whirlpool : Wince, Saxon, id. 

WINDEE, WINDOEE. A window: This seems to be the 

old derivation of the word, a door to keep out the 

wind. Formerly glass was a rarity, and foul weather 

was kept out only by the shutters. 

The word spelt windore is so frequent in Butler's Hudibras, that it is 
needless to put in examples. 



70 GLOSSARY. 

WILL-GILL. An effeminate person ; an hermaphrodite : 
William and Gillian, the male and female names united. 

WITE. Blame; originally, knowledge; then the guilty 
knowledge of a wrong : Wite, Saxon, idem. 

" And, but I do, Sirs, let me have the wite." — Chaucer, Chanon's 
Yeoman's Tale, 1. 398. 

" My looser lays, I wot, doth sharply wite 
For praising love."— Spenser, Fairy Queen, iv. 

WIT- WALL. The large black and white woodpecker, 
Picus major : Perhaps from its cry, quasi, wide- wail (?) 

WITH- WIND, or BETH-WIND. A creeping plant, Cle- 
matis vitalba : With- wind, Saxon. 

WIZEN. To wither with age or disease : Wisnian, Saxon, id. 

WOLD. Open forest-land : Wold, Frisian. 

"St. Withold footed thrice the wold." — Shakespeare. King Lear, 
act iii. sc. 3. 

" With their' s do but compare the country where I lie ; 
My hills and 'oulds will say I am the kingdom's eye.'' 

— Drayton's Polyolb. xxvi. 

WOMEN-YOLK. Women. 

WONDEEMENT, 'OONDEEMENT. Anything not un- 
derstood. 

" When that my pen would write her titles true, 
It ravished is with fancy's wonderment." — Spenser. 
" Some strangers, of the wiser sort, 
Made all these idle wonderments their sport. "— Dryden. 

WONT, see 'OONT; WONT, or 'OONT- WRIGGLE ; The 

succession of small tumuli thrown up by the mole. 

WOOD-SPITE. The green woodpecker, Picus viridis : 
Spect, Danish. 

WORDLED. The Cotswolcl pronunciation of World. 

WORSEN. To make worse. 

" He might see his affairs had not suffered, or worsened there, by his 
acting hitherto in them." — Autobiography of King James II., vol. i. 
p. 680. 



GLOSSARY. 71 



YAPPEEN, Apron; YEAWS, Ewes; YAEBS, Herbs; 
YEXT, Is-not, aint ; YOUL, Howl ; are a few of the 
very numerous instances of the erroneous addition of 
the letter Y in the Cotswold dialect. 

YELT, ILT, HILT, A young sow, quasi, to yield progeny : 
Eildan, Saxon. 

YEMATH. Latter-grass after mowing: Ed, Saxon, rursus, 
and math. 

YOPPIXG, YOPPETIXG. A dog in full cry after game, 
or baying a stranger : Derived from the sound. 



ZEXjSTEES. Sinews. 

ZOG. To soak 

ZWATHE. Grass when first mowed, and in rows ; the 
field being, as it were, swathed : Zwad, Danish, id. 

" With, tossing and raking, and setting on cocks, 
Grass lately in swathes is meat for an ox." 

— Tnsser's Husbandry, July, 2. 
"And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge, 
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath.'' 

— Shakespeare, Troil. and Cressida, act v. sc. 5. 



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